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NIGHT
A live evening walk through UNESCO Vicenza
Meet Palladio before “Palladian” became an adjective.
Know before you go
About
WHY GO
Forget the architectural pilgrimage for one evening. Palladio sotto le stelle, Palladio Under the Stars, is interested in Andrea Palladio before the villas, porticoes and perfect proportions made his name travel around the world. The two hour evening begins inside Santa Corona, Vicenza’s great Gothic church, then heads into the historic centre with an actor playing Palladio and an architecture guide supplying the evidence. The buildings provide the setting. The evening goes after the man. Who paid him. Who gave him access to Vicenza’s most powerful families. How an artisan’s son became the architect wealthy patrons wanted. What we know about his marriage, children, ambitions and friendships, and how surprisingly little personal material one of the most influential architects in history left behind. By the time you reach the Renaissance palaces outside, their façades have acquired owners, egos, money and complications.
PALLADIO, OFF THE PEDESTAL
Andrea Palladio eventually became bigger than Vicenza. His books carried his architectural ideas across Europe, Britain and North America, and Palladian became an architectural language in its own right. Here, for two hours, the process runs backwards. You meet him while he is still working in Vicenza, negotiating commissions and building relationships with the aristocratic families whose houses now form part of the city’s UNESCO World Heritage site. It is Palladio before posterity tidied him up.
PALLADIO UNDER THE STARS
Palladio sotto le stelle, Palladio Under the Stars, first appeared in 2020 and has returned across subsequent summer and early autumn seasons, with editions repeatedly selling out. The format combines live performance, architecture and the actual streets in which much of the story happened, so there is no stage set to build. Vicenza has already supplied it.
GOOD TO KNOW
DURATION
Around 2 hours FORMAT Live actor plus architecture guide
STARTING POINT
Santa Corona, central Vicenza SEASON Selected summer and early autumn evenings LANGUAGE Check the individual performance before booking
LOOK FOR
Palladio sotto le stelle, Palladio Under the Stars.