Exterior view

The Villa Almerico Capra Valmarana, known as La Rotonda, differs from other countryside residences in that it was built primarily as a suburban retreat rather than as a working farm. As was the case with all of Palladio’s villas, the exterior is rather plain. The setting made it grand and inspired Palladio to give each side of the house, built on a centralized plan, a pedimented loggia. Each portico is approached by a broad staircase. The extremely sensitive deployment of simple forms - square, rectangle, and triangle - combined with Palladio’s unerring sense of proportion culminates in a shallow dome which forms a surrogate crest to the hill, uniting the building and the land upon which it rests.

View the ground plan of the Villa Rotonda.