Andrea Palladio published, when he was already sixty years old, a work in four volumes, his legacy to posterity, The Four Books of Architecture.
Not only do the tomes present with precision the dogmas and philosophy followed by the architect, but they are also richly illustrated with an extremely diligent wealth of detail.
Palladio timidly began to compose his magnum opus when he was only 22 years old, and gradually enriched the pages of the tomes with his own works, discussing the choices he carried out with farsightedness and a good dose of genius: among the pages we can read and learn which was the process of creation of some masterpieces, or better understand why Palladio took one path rather than another, sometimes having to fight against the scepticism of his clients.
The work gave origin to the phenomenon of Palladianism, which reached North America and thanks to the divulging power of the writing, we can still enjoy today the admirable teachings in monuments and buildings known all over the world, such as the White House, the imposing Capitolio or the Monticello residence which was the dream realized by Thomas Jefferson, who brought its elements to the University of Virginia, which he founded.
But Andrea Palladio included in his memories and studies, also the elements that had so deeply inspired him and that found their fertile origin in the teachings of the classical era: the colonnades, the tympanums, the noble and elevated solemnity, the white stone. Examples of purity and cleanliness of form that were so dear to the architect and that we find in every side of his queen work, the noble Villa Veneta.
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