Villa+Poiana

__VILLA POIANA, Poiana Maggiore (Vi)__ Another Villa projected by Palladio, even though less famous than The Rotonda, is Villa Pojana or Poiana, a patrician villa in Poiana Maggiore, Veneto (northern Italy). It is one of the Palladian villas of the Veneto listed as UNESCO World Heritage State. The Villa was commissioned to Andrea Palladio by Bonifacio Pojana, member the ancient noble family of Pojana who held the local fief for the Republic of Venice. A former military, Pojana asked to Palladio a sober edifice whose elegance could evoke the austerity of military life. Palladio in designing the plan inspired to the ancient Roman Baths which he had discovered during his trip to Rome. Palladio probably designed the villa towards the end of the 1540’s, but work proceeded slowly. They only completed the work in 1563, when the interior decoration was given the final touches by the painters Bernardino India and Anselmo Canera, and the sculptor Bartolomeo Ridolfi. The main floor is mainly characterized by a large hall with Barrel vaults at the sides of which open the secondary rooms, each with a different type of vault. Decorative elements are almost entirely absent from the exterior: the façade has nor a Loggia neither a pronaos like other Palladio's villas, a simple closed architecture being chosen in lieu. The columns have no capitals. The main feature of the façade is the serliana with five circular holes (//oculi//), inspired to Roman models. The interior has decorations inspired to war tradition. In the 17th century, Bonifacio’s heirs had the building altered to their requirements and tastes that included the addition of another wing to the right of the villa using similar window mouldings to the original.