Villa Godi

Architecture

The building lacks of ornamentation usually associated with Palladio's mature work, and for the refined, symmetrical proportions of the façade and massing of the structure.

The plan is arranged with suites of apartments arranged symmetrically on each side of the main sala and a recessed entry loggia. The plan published in I quattro libri dell'architettura twenty-eight years after the building's completion is probably a revision of Palladio's original design and includes an extensive complex of farm buildings, which are not part of the actual realisation.

This early work by Palladio still demonstrates characteristics of the architecture of his time. A harmonic unity of landscape and architecture does not yet seem to have been an aspiration. The building is a massive block consisting of three distinct parts. The public space of the reception area (the sala) is clearly distinguished from the domestic living areas and the ensemble does not present a unified appearance. The flight of entrance steps is flanked by balusters and its width corresponds to the middle arch of the arcade of the loggia.

Frescoes

The interior was decorated with frescoes initially by Gualtiero Padovano, and later by Giovanni Battista Zelotti and Battista del Moro. Their "Hall of the Muses" includes depictions of caryatids within a composition of muses and poets in Arcadian landscapes. Ruins of a Greek temple also form the backdrop for the depiction of Olympian gods. This is followed by symbols of peace and justice, a common theme in Venetian villas following the War of the League of Cambrai and the desire for a new Pax Venetiana, or great peace within the Republic of Venice.