Villa Serego

45°29′58″N 10°55′32″E / 45.49944°N 10.92556°E / 45.49944; 10.92556

Villa Serego or Villa Sarego is a Palladian villa at Santa Sofia di Pedemonte in the province of Verona. It was built for the aristocratic Sarego family, and designed by Andrea Palladio. The villa is distinctive for its use of rusticated columns of the Ionic order.

History

The villa was commissioned by Marcantonio Sarego for an estate which came into his possession in 1552.^[1] A rough date for its execution is c. 1560-1570. A plan of the building appears in Palladio's Quattro Libri of 1570, but it relates to a larger project than was actually completed. A habitable building is known to have existed by 1572 from Marcantonio's will of that date, but he died leaving some of the project as little more than foundations. In 1857 further construction took place.

Architectural Details

Two limestone sculptures made out of limestone stand surrounded by semi-circular hedges in front of the villa. They appear to be the deities Diana (with attributes of the hunt) and Apollo (holding a harp), symbolic of the villa being both a rural retreat and a refuge for culture and beauty.

The villa has a courtyard design, which relates to Roman villas. Palladio uses two Roman residences from the writings of Vitruvius and Leon Battista Alberti to inspire the atrium's design. The colossal columns of the inner courtyard are executed in a rough aesthetic. Although ultimately derived from ancient Roman buildings, they use features found in the architecture of Verona. They are unique in Palladio's work and are reminiscent of mannerist design.

The structure itself is composed of a two-storey loggia. The wings, which the family would have lived in, are positioned at right angles around the courtyard, without enclosing it completely. Thereby, it creates a colossal peristyle, by the dominant feature of the villa's columns. In front of the courtyard, pilasters would have been placed behind the columns, which would have had to bear the weight of the upper loggia.