The Barchesse of Villa Trissino at Meledo
Meledo di Sarego (Province of Vicenza) 16 m/52 feet above sea level, Via Gian Giorgio Trissino. Train station at Montebello Vicentino on the Milano-Venezia line, about 4 km/2.5miles to the northwest.
The Vicentine brothers Francesco and Ludovico Trissino commissioned Andrea Palladio to design a villa along the river Brendola southwest of Vicenza. The project appears in the Second Book of Architecture, and perhaps is the largest of all the villas presented in the Book.
In reality the project was never completed, no one knows why, so that all that remains today is a dovecote tower attached to an uncompleted barchessa [Venetian farm support building. RB] with a Tuscan colonnade, the same elements described by Palladio(*). There are also impressive foundations which allow one to believe that work had begun on the villa and in a big manner.
The entry gate is locked with a padlock and supports two signs announcing an upcoming restoration, although for now (January 2014) there is no sign of activity.
Photos
Dovecote tower
Dovecote tower
The street
Restoration plans
Palladio’s design
Captions
The dovecote tower seen from the street.
The tower and the east barchessa, all that remains of the grandiose Palladio design. One can also see a barchessa on the other side of the courtyard but it seems to be a later addition.
The complex faces on the street which not inappropriately is called Via Gian Giorgio Trissino (the Vicenza humanist who discovered the talent of Andrea di Pietro and gave him the nickname Palladio).
Mounted on the entry gate are these two signs announcing an upcoming restoration project, but for now there is no sign of activity.
The Palladio design: at the center is a square structure that recalls Villa la Rotonda; in front there is an enormous stairway with a majestic semi-circular colonnade that connects the two L-shaped barchesse. The fragment that was built is a part of the eastern barchessa.
Links
Barchesse of Villa Trissino on the CISA Palladio website with description, map and 3D model.
Villa Trissino (barchesse) on the visitPalladio website.
IRVV: Istituto Regionale Ville Venete [Regional Institute of Venetian Villas].
References
Andrea Palladio, I quattro libri dell`Architettura, Carampello, Venezia, 1581. [Villa Trissino p 60]. → eBook
Andrea Palladio [translated by Isaac Ware 1738], The Four Books of Architecture, Dover, New York 1965. [Villa Trissino p 51 and plate 43].
Andrea Palladio, Le ville venete, Abscondita, Milano, 2003. [Barchesse di villa Trissino pp 59-60].
Bibliography
Andrea Palladio, I quattro libri dell`Architettura, Carampello, Venezia, 1581 → eBook
Andrea Palladio [translated by Isaac Ware 1738], The Four Books of Architecture, Dover, New York 1965.
(*) […] The columns of these portico’s [sic] are of the Tuscan order. Over the river, in the angles of the court, are two dove houses.