Basilica Palladiana

The Basilica Palladiana is not a church — despite its name, it is a civic palace, the seat of Vicenza's medieval government wrapped in one of the most influential Renaissance facades in existence. Palladio encased the original 15th-century Palazzo della Ragione in a two-storey loggia of Pietra di Vicenza stone, using the serliana window motif — an arch flanked by two smaller rectangular openings — that would bear his name and spread across Europe and the British colonies.

The building anchors Piazza dei Signori, Vicenza's main square, and is open to visitors for temporary exhibitions as well as for the spectacle of the architecture itself. The copper roof, added in the 19th century after the original was destroyed by bombing, glimmers green over the town. From the upper loggia you look directly at the Torre di Piazza, Vicenza's medieval tower, and across the square to the Loggia del Capitaniato — another Palladio work — making this corner of town one of the densest concentrations of his work anywhere.

things to do sight architecture
A story
Palladio's commission for the Basilica was not a new building but a rescue operation. The original medieval Palazzo della Ragione had suffered two catastrophic collapses of its upper loggia in the early 16th century. Palladio — then in his thirties and not yet famous — proposed wrapping the old brick structure in a white stone shell of his own design. The city waited 17 years before trusting him with the job.