Italian Renaissance Architecture: Palaces and Villas
Italian Renaissance Architecture
Many of the constructive elements were already known from the study of Greece and Rome. It developed in three stages:
- Quattrocento (15th century): Born in Florence.
- Cinquecento (first third of the 16th century).
- Mannerism.
The most outstanding elements are the palace and the villa.
The Palazzo
This was where Italian nobles lived, featuring a mansard roof. These buildings evolved over time. They are buildings with a picturesque, enclosed courtyard, generally structured in three floors. The exterior often used rustication, consisting of blocks of different sizes. A notable example is Alberti’s Palazzo Rucellai. Its facade begins with a plinth and continues with a lower bench. It is chaired by Doric pilasters and windows. The first and second floors are characterized by Doric and Corinthian pilasters, between which are framed mullioned windows with pointed arches, and inside, round arches. This palace features a central courtyard around which the building’s bodies are articulated, surrounded by Corinthian columns.
The Villa
These were small houses that the nobles had in the countryside. They often used a Greek cross plan, sometimes with central avocados. Palladio’s Villa Capra is a prime example, using elements of the Roman temple. It has four identical facades oriented to the four cardinal points. The building stands on a steep staircase giving access to the hexastyle building. The porticoes are scoreless, with pediments and corresponding entablatures. The floor plan is organized around a circular great hall featuring a large dome surrounded by rooms.
The most commonly used type of arch is semicircular. The columns represent the classical canons: Ionic, Doric, etc. The buildings are covered with domes and coffered vaults. The dome of Agrippa’s temple, decorated with a half-orange dome, illustrates the main decorative elements, usually grotesques, that is, representations of plants, animals, and even humans.
Dome of S.M. del Fiore
It was constructed by Brunelleschi without the use of high centering. This dome sits on an octagonal drum in the manner of Gothic domes. Ingenious technical solutions create two domes united, an inner semicircular one and an outer pointed one, which counteracts the thrust of the first. The exterior decoration of the dome uses galleries of arches, and the dome is composed of niches. It has two shells: one inside, hemispherical, and one outside, octagonal, formed by eight lunettes. The second is octagonal, with eight sides, and pointed. Outside, it is possible to see eight ribs, with two more hidden. For its construction, hollow bricks are used, arranged in an opus spicatum pattern. All this culminates in a lantern that gives more light to the building.
Cinquecento
Aside from the artists in Rome in 1500, the figure of Donato Bramante grows. He serves as a link between the two centuries. He was trained in Lombardy and left Milan. He settled in Rome, where he waived the severely stressed ornamentation for the simple pleasure of structure. The temple of San Pietro in Montorio is inspired by the Roman temples of Vesta. Pope Julius II commissioned him to build the new Basilica of St. Peter, for which he created a Greek cross plan.
Mannerism
The word is of Italian origin and difficult to define. Mannerist works are intended for a refined and cultured clientele. For the first time, the term was used to designate a group working in the second half of the Cinquecento. It does not directly imitate nature as a source. To speak of Mannerist architecture is to talk about the influence exerted by some, such as Michelangelo and Palladio. The main aspects are:
- Utilization of classical language with absolute freedom, employing traditional elements but without respecting the original rules and distribution.
- Architectural elements are used that are not always structural.
- A search for surprise and originality, creating spaces that are sometimes spacious and sometimes overwhelming.
Notable figures include Palladio and Vignola.