The palladian basilica is vicenza’s landmark building. Renowned for its arcade with venetian windows, designed by the great paduan architect andrea palladio, which surrounds the medieval palazzo della ragione, it was included in the unesco world heritage list in 1994.

It’s also known as the “palladian loggias” and is the symbol of the city. The loggias cover the building known as the basilica, which, despite its name, has nothing to do with religion: it is, in fact, the ancient palazzo della ragione, known as the “basilica” in ancient rome – the place where business was conducted and where city life was administered on the upper floor that contained a single hall, covered by a keeled vault.

The city council used to meet on the huge upper floor. Today, however, the basilica has become a place of culture, and has therefore been turned into a museum, hosting exhibitions and events (interestingly, in the 1960s, the basilica was also used as a sports facility, acting as the venue for the home games of the city’s basketball team).

Palladio’s brilliant idea was to clad the old basilica with loggias made of stone from piovene rocchette (near the asiago plateau). He therefore developed two orders of overlapping loggias that are characterised by the use of repetitive modules made up of venetian windows, that is to say, architectural elements composed of a round arch between two rectangular openings delimited by columns.

The venetian window is also known as the serliana, named after sebastiano serlio as it was he, in his treatise on architecture, who provided the most detailed descriptions of this type of structure, which is something of a “trademark” feature of palladio’s works. Palladio adopted the utmost care in the construction of the new arches to achieve solidity, harmony and magnificence.

Solidity, because the venetian windows effectively support the weight of the vault. Harmony, because palladio could modify the width of the side openings to create a balanced structure, as is apparent in the corners, where the side openings of the venetian windows are reduced slightly to better fit the building’s dimensions. Magnificence, because the venetian window is reminiscent of a triumphal arch.