10 Architectural Buildings in Vicenza That You Shouldn't Miss

The mission of the Fondazione Coppola is to promote the visual languages of contemporary art, by focusing not only on acclaimed artists, but above all on emerging new talent. In 2018 Antonio Coppola, an entrepreneur, collector and art patron, established this foundation in the northern Italian city of Vicenza. The unique location of the Fondazione Coppola is the medieval tower of Porta Castello, known as the Torrione. Thanks to the initiatives and activities of the Fondazione Coppola the Torrione can now be visited by the public. Its recently restored rooms host exhibitions, events, activities and workshops dedicated to contemporary art, and are a place for the creation, study and criticism of visual art. Aiming to appeal to experts and connoisseurs, as well as enthusiastic young people, the Torrione will no doubt be a pole of attraction for art lovers for many generations to come.

The Palladian Basilica is a public building facing onto the Piazza dei Signori. Its name is linked to Andrea Palladio, who redesigned it, adding the famous loggias with serliana openings in white marble to the existing Gothic building. The building on which Palladio worked was the Palazzo della Ragione, built in Gothic style in the mid-fifteenth century. The upper floor is entirely taken up by an enormous hall with no intermediate supports, where the Council of the Four Hundred met. The copper-lined, inverted ship’s-hull roof was inspired by that of the Palazzo della Ragione in Padua. The Gothic facade was originally clad with diamonds of red and straw yellow Verona marble, which are still visible behind Palladio’s addition. A loggia surrounding the building was commissioned after its completion, but continually delayed due to various structural difficulties and the nature of the ground beneath. At the beginning of the sixteenth century the double order of porticoes and loggias, though not complete, collapsed. The Council called on many leading architects of the time to resolve the difficult problem of its reconstruction. They included Jacopo Sansovino, Sebastiano Serlio and Giulio Romano. The project was awarded to Andrea Palladio (1508-80) in 1549, following a competition, and he worked on it for the rest of his life. It was completed posthumously in 1614. The reconstructed building was called a basilica by Palladio himself, who had been inspired by the model of the Roman basilica for civic use. The building has three independent exhibition spaces that are used to host architecture and art exhibitions of international renown.

The Palazzo Chiericati has been the historic home of the Civic Museum since 1855 and now houses the city's collections of paintings, sculptures and applied arts from the thirteenth to the twentieth centuries. A masterpiece of Palladio's early maturity (1550), the building not only has decorations from that period but also holds important documents on Vicenza's art history. The Museum of Palazzo Chiericati reopened the Palladian wing on December 2013, after the restoration works. On the main floor, the visitor can enjoy the works of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, contemporary to the construction of the building. The attic hosts the Bequest of Marquis Giuseppe Roi: his personal collection of paintings, drawings and engravings from the fifteenth to the twentieth century, set in a charming display of house-museum. On the ground floor the visitor can admire, in a temporary exhibition, a selection of masterpieces of the collection not currently on display: Paolo Veneziano, Memling, Montagna, Fogolino, Sansovino, Tintoretto, Maffei and Pittoni. In the basement are located the works donated to the museum by the sculptor Nereo Quagliato.

Venetian villa with superb frescoes of the most important Venetian painters of 18th century: Giambattista and Giandomenico Tiepolo. Still owned and inhabited by the Valmarana family, who bought it back in 1720. Open to the public for visits 7 days a week and available for events such as weddings, conferences, gala dinners, photo shooting, business presentations, concerts, representations, etc

Magnificent example of 14th century Gothic architecture in the heart of Vicenza. Palazzo da Schio, the Ca' d'Oro, is home to the important archaeological collection of Giovanni da Schio (1798-1868). Guided tours, hospitality, tastings, events, photo sets, gift shop.