Once, architectural genius was reserved for temples and palaces, not private houses. But with his beautiful, perfectly proportioned villas, Andrea Palladio changed design forever. His 1570 architectural treatise was studied by Thomas Jefferson and Inigo Jones and proved critical to the design of Monticello and the White House. And his influence can still be seen today - in grand porches and columned porticoes, in our front door pediments and ceding heights.
Palladio's villas, situated along the Brenta river, just a short distance from Venice, are an increasingly popular tourist attraction. In this book, Rybczynski acts as an enchanted and illuminating tour guide, both to some of the world's most elegant dwellings, and to the man who built them.
Combining the compelling biographical narrative of his bestselling 'A Clearing In The Distance' with his renowned architectural insight, Rybezynski's charming meditation explores the dawn of domestic architecture, and provides a new way of looking at every building we inhabit or visit today.
