An interesting conference took place in Bagni di Lucca this week with the main theme of “Neo-Palladina villas in Britain” It was the fourth event at the Circolo dei Forestieri organised by the L’Università della terz’età and was presided over by Prof Francis Pettitt who gave a detailed account of the influence of the architect Andrea Palladio on English country houses and palaces.
Andrea Palladio (30 November 1508 – 19 August 1580) was an architect active in the Republic of Venice. He was influenced by Roman and Greek architecture, primarily by Vitruvius and is widely considered the most influential individual in the history of Western architecture. All of his buildings are located in what was the Venetian Republic.
He was born as Andrea di Pietro della Gondola in Padua, then part of the Republic of Venice. His father Pietro called “della Gondola” was a miller. In Padua he gained his first experiences as a stonecutter in the sculpture workshop of Bartolomeo Cavazza da Sossano, who is said to have imposed particularly hard working conditions. In fact, in April 1524, after one failed attempt, Palladio managed to run away to Vicenza. Here he became an assistant in the Pedemuro studio, a leading workshop of stonecutters and masons.
His talents were first recognized in his early thirties by Count Gian Giorgio Trissino, an influential humanist and writer. As the leading intellectual in Vicenza, Trissino stimulated the young man to appreciate the arts, sciences and Classical literature and granted him the opportunity to study Ancient architecture in Rome. It was also Trissino who gave him the name by which he is now known, Palladio, an allusion to the Greek goddess of wisdom Pallas Athene and to a character of a play by Trissino himself. Indeed the word Palladio means Wise one.
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Palladio’s influence was far-reaching, although his buildings are all in a relatively small part of Italy. One factor in the spread of his influence was the publication in 1570 of his architectural treatise I Quattro Libri dell’Architettura (The Four Books of Architecture), which set out rules others could follow. Before this landmark publication, architectural drawings by Palladio had appeared in print as illustrations to Daniele Barbaro’s “Commentary” on Vitruvius.
Interest in his style was renewed in later generations and became fashionable all over Europe, for example in parts of the Loire Valley of France.
In Britain, Inigo Jones and Christopher Wren embraced the Palladian style. In his Italian Journey, Johann von Goethe describes Palladio as a genius, commending his unfinished Convent of S. Maria della Carita as the most perfect existing work of architecture. Another admirer was the architect Richard Boyle, 4th Earl of Cork, also known as Lord Burlington, who, with William Kent, designed Chiswick House. The influence of Palladio even got to America. The Capitol building is an example of slightly evolved version of Palladio’s works. Thomas Jefferson loved that style of architecture. Exponents of Palladianism include the 18th century Venetian architect Giacomo Leoni who published an authoritative four-volume work on Palladio and his architectural concepts.
L’Università della terz’età fa riflettere sul fatto che non si finisce mai d’imparare. L’età non importa.
La sezione dell’unitre di Bagni di Lucca, presieduta dall’illustre Fabio Lucchesi, offre un’immensa varietà di conferenze su soggetti come la storia naturale, la letteratura, i diritti legali e l’iconografia di San Cassiano, per esempio.
Lo scorso giovedì, 29 marzo, Francis Pettitt, un residente del comune dal 2005, ha presentato la sua quarta conferenza al fiorente gruppo di studenti.
Il tema era le ville neo-palladiane in Inghilterra.
Cominciando con le ville di Palladio, che furono così influenti per lo sviluppo della caratteristica dimora aristocratica inglese del settecento, la country house, il prof. Pettitt ha discusso i grandi architetti e mecenati d’arte che diedero un’impronta indelebile alla cultura anglo-sassone.
Tra questi sono ricordare Colen Campbell, Lord Burlington e William Kent. Profusamente illustrata da immagini digitali, la conferenza è stata accolta con molto interesse dal pubblico nell’elegante sala rosa al primo piano del Circolo dei Forestieri.
Gli aristocratici inglesi certo volevano ricordare una piccola parte del Bel Paese, che conobbero durante il loro grand tour d’obbligo nei porticati, nei saloni affrescati ed i quadri dei vedutisti che adornano questi gioielli architettonici nordici.
La conferenza si è conclusa con un invito al gruppo dell’università della terz’età diretta, in Inghilterra, dalla cugina del professor Pettitt, per uno scambio culturale tra le due sezioni.
Questo potrebbe anche portare ad un possibile nuovo gemellaggio per Bagni di Lucca.