If you take a look at a five
cent piece what do you see?
Monticello, the house that
Thomas Jefferson (1743-1826),
the third president of the
United States, built for himself
in Virginia. The president, an
architect as well as great traveler,
was imbued with ideas of
democracy and beauty which he
found incarnated in Palladio’s
Villa La Rotonda.
He said, “Palladio is my Bible”.
And so Monticello (which in
Italian means “little mountain”)
had an extraordinary influence
on a particular aspect of the
American identity: just think
of the White House or the
University of Virginia…
But where did this great Palladian
revolution start?
In Vicenza, in the north east
of Italy, the place where the
most important architect of the
western hemisphere created
the greatest number of buildings
and changed the city and its
landscape for ever. In fact, Vicenza
is incomparable for its Basilica,
the Teatro Olimpico and its many
mansions and buildings. “The city
has had the greatest influence
on both the architecture and

the town-planning of the major
countries of Europe as well as in
the rest of the world”.
This was the motivation of
UNESCO when it placed the city
on the World Heritage List.
Loved by great writers and
artists, the city and its province
– situated in the heart of the
Veneto region between Verona,
Padua, and Venice – offers an
amazing network of incredibly
beautiful buildings and villas
constructed in this sweet land,
characterized by soft rolling hills.
It has inspired so many great
creators: Tiepolo, for example,
was just one.
But, of course, Vicenza is not just
the home of Renaissance culture:
it is the centre of the world’s
most creative industries too, with
an amazing density of businesses.
So to come here also means
undertaking a unique and
surprising journey to a place
described by one historian as
“A location blessed by heaven,
one of those nests nature created
for the birth of Italian art which,
right from the start of the
Renaissance, continued to bloom
here”.
Discover Vicenza and Palladio.