Exterior view

The Villa Cornaro was commissioned from Palladio by Giorgio Cornaro, a Venetian nobleman. The construction began in 1553, and in the following year the Cornaro family began living in the central portion, although the wings and the second story of the loggia had not yet been built. These were added later, during different periods, one beginning in 1569, and the other in 1588, the latter under the direction of Vincenzo Scamozzi.

The structure of the building’s main section, with its elegant, projecting double pronaos of Ionic and Corinthian columns, has a distinctive appearance, more like a city palazzo than a country residence. Palladio’s design is notable for the creation of a central hall, a large space with four free-standing Ionic columns, preceded by a narrow vestibule.

During the 1588 work phase, Scamozzi had Camillo Mariani create stucco statues for the central hall, depicting two renowned members of the Cornaro family, Caterina, queen of Cyprus, and her husband James II Lusignan. It was not until the early eighteenth century that Andrea Cornaro decided to provide the villa interiors with pictorial decoration. In 1716, he engaged Mattia Bortoloni to paint six rooms on the first floor and two small rooms on the second.

View the ground plan and fa�ade of Villa Cornaro, Piombino Dese.