november-2012

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LUXURY VENICE frontages held up by columns, light and airy rooms – that has dominated European architecture ever since. From London to Leipzig, Porto to St Petersburg, step into any elegant street and you can see his influence. Born in 1508 to a lowly gondola-maker, Palladio established his career building large country villas for noble families on the mainland of the Veneto region that surrounds Venice. As his reputation grew, he was commissioned to produce churches and public buildings scattered through the city of Venice itself. And since a tour of his works takes in not just a journey through architectural history, but also through the atmosphere of renaissance Italy – a time of pleasure and decadence (not to mention intrigue and danger) – it is doubly hard to resist. So here I am, suspended above the rose petals, while my masseuse, Angela, gently rubs lavender oil into my temples, the only sounds the same songs of birds that Palladio would have heard 500 years ago as he sat on this site dreaming of what he could build. An hour later, rose-scented and relaxed, I gaze up at the Zitelle church, which displays Palladio’s passion for the beauty of the simple straight line and the gentle curve. It is a strong work, but not his masterpiece. The architect’s finest church was the neighbouring Church of the Redeemer, just a few steps away, and built in 1577 to give thanks to God for saving two thirds of the city’s population from the bubonic plague that had raged that year. The front of the church displays all of Palladio’s trademarks: a square design that imposes strength; classical columns to unite the building with Rome’s majestic history; steps reaching up to the entrance that signify the road to heaven is not easy. It really is no coincidence that Venice was known as The Serene Republic in an era when Palladio’s vision of quiet strength was at its very heart. Stepping through the door can surprise many a visitor used to the ornate churches of Rome, because it is simple, mostly white and very light inside. Palladio was a pious man who did not approve of excessive palladio was a revolutionary, a dreamer of rome and a prophet of modernity decoration (and preferred it if people marvelled at his architecture rather than some hack painter’s fresco). But there are curiosities too – no visitors should miss the church’s rather bizarre collection of wax effigies of the heads of former chief monks, kept in glass jars in a room behind the altar; a sort of freaky ecclesiastical version of Madame Tussauds. A water-taxi hop over to the main island takes me to St Mark’s Square, the heart of Venice. Palladio would no doubt have walked the same paving slabs, perhaps stopping for a glass of wine or two. Determined to get under the skin of a renaissance nobleman, I stop off at the finest restaurant on the square, the Michelin-starred Ristorante Quadri, which produces classical Italian cuisine just as Palladio would have eaten on the same spot half a millennium ago. An hour away by train is the town of Vicenza, where Palladio was based for the early years of his career and is therefore Top: Ristorante Quadri on St Mark’s Square, where Palladio himself once dined. Bottom left and right: the opulent Hotel Bauer Palladio is the former convent of the Italian architect’s Zitelle Church Previous page, from main image: The Doge’s Palace, St Mark’s Square; the Church of The Redeemer on the Giudecca is considered Palladio’s greatest work; a statue of the architect in Vicenza Eat, sleep, pamper ■ The Bauer Palladio Hotel and Spa, double rooms with breakfast, €975 per night; Vitalis bath therapy €90 for 30 minutes, palladiohotelspa.com pa.com ■ Eat like a doge at Ristorante Quadri (right) on St Mark’s Square: tasting menu €200, caffequadri.it ■ Live in the lap of luxury at Villa Saraceno from €1,000 for three nights, landmarktrust.org.uk; villagodi.com; lamalcontenta.com 46 <strong>november</strong> <strong>2012</strong> FLY TO venice twice daily. brusselsairlines.com
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november-2012

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