MUTTONI, Francesco

In 1701 the marquis Scipione Repeta engaged Vincenzan architect Francesco Muttoni to rebuild the old family palace located in Piazza San Lorenzo, Vicenza. The project was completed in 1711. The monumental double-flight staircase leading to the piano nobile was completed in 1707, according to the inscription above the arch next to the second landing. The ceiling of the staircase was frescoed by the French artist Louis Dorigny, who displayed a masterly skill in his use of perspective.

In 1701 the marquis Scipione Repeta engaged Vincenzan architect Francesco Muttoni to rebuild the old family palace located in Piazza San Lorenzo, Vicenza. The project was completed in 1711. The monumental double-flight staircase leading to the piano nobile was completed in 1707, according to the inscription above the arch next to the second landing. The ceiling of the staircase was frescoed by the French artist Louis Dorigny, who displayed a masterly skill in his use of perspective.

At the top of the grand staircase, beneath a stucco cartouche that contains the representations Painting and Sculpture, Dorigny has painted a figure of Hercules as a bronze statue within an illusionistic niche.

The present-day structure of the villa is the result of a series of renovations and expansions; the oldest remnants can be traced back to 1436 when Niccolò Loschi acquired the land and an existing structure that he expanded; other expansions occurred with the most significant at the end of the seventeenth century, a work by the architect Carlo Borella. The current structure recalls in part the grandiose design by Francesco Muttoni from 1729 which subsequently was modified by Ottone Calderari and others.

The villa consists of a main structure of three stories with eleven windows across and a central balcony surmounted by the Loschi family coat-of-arms. On the left side there is a large barchessa (farm support building) in the shape of a large L. To the east there are other buildings including a much smaller barchessa; to the west there are other service buildings, surrounding a courtyard. Surrounding the villa is a large park designed during the nineteenth century by Antonio Negrin. The villa changed ownership several times, this explains its names.

The interior has frescoes by Giovanni Battista Tiepolo in the grand staircase and the main hall.