Description of the attraction
Palazzo Chiericati is a Renaissance palace in Vicenza, designed by the architect Andrea Palladio. The customer for the construction, which began in 1550, was Count Girolamo Chiericati, and the last stages of construction work were supervised by his son Valerio. The final construction of the Palazzo was completed only in 1680 under the direction of the architect Carlo Borella.
The palace was built on the territory of the so-called Piazza del Isola (now Piazza Matteotti), which in those years housed the livestock and wood markets. In the middle of the 16th century, the square was a small island surrounded by the waters of the Retrone and Bacchiglione rivers, and in order to protect the structure from flooding, Palladio placed it on a certain elevation. The palace was accessed by a triple staircase in the classical style. The main facade of the Palazzo consists of three parts: the central part protrudes slightly and has a covered balcony, and the two outer ones are decorated with loggias on the "drunken nobile". Another decoration of the facade is two rows of aligned columns - Doric lower and Ionic upper ones. The roof is notable for the sculptural group.
In 1855, Palazzo Chiericati housed the Municipal Museum, and later the Municipal Art Gallery, which today houses the works of Tintoretto, Tiepolo, Cima da Conegliano, Van Dyck and Palladio himself. The building of Palladio received international recognition in 1994, when it was included in the UNESCO list of World Cultural Heritage sites along with other creations of the great architect in Vicenza. By the way, Palladio was also the author of the country residence of the Chiericati family - the villa of the same name.
