Exterior view

The Palazzo del Capitaniato, also known as Loggia del Capitanio, was designed by Andrea Palladio in 1565 and built between 1571 and 1572. It is located on the central Piazza dei Signori, facing the Basilica Palladiana which Palladio designed twenty years earlier. While the Basilica was executed in white stone and devoid of decoration (if one ignores the design of architectural elements like the frieze, keystones and statues), the Loggia abounds in rich stucco decorations. Both the use of the giant order and this decorative richness are twin traits peculiar to Palladio’s architectural idiom in the last decade of his life.