Villa Pojana is another incredible work by the architect Andrea Palladio, who designed this villa around 1546, in Pojana Maggiore, in the province of Vicenza. The work was commissioned by Bonifacio Poiana, representative of a family from Vicenza who, thanks to the services rendered to the Republic of Venice, during the War of the Cambrai League, became the owner of vast lands.
The villa is one of the most popular buildings in Palladio, it is simple, raised on a base and practically free of architectural stone elements, such as capitals, probably to keep costs down.
Observing it we can agree with the master Andrea Palladio, when he described the structure in his free books, "the Four Books of Architecture" of 1570. According to the architect, the client, "like the one who is magnificent, and of the most noble spirit, has no failed to make all those ornaments and all the comforts that are possible to make this place beautiful, enjoyable and comfortable ".
Inside, the main floor is dominated by a large room decorated by the sculptor Bartolomeo Ridolfi and the painter Anselmo Canera, which seems to recall the thermal environments of ancient Rome. The frescoes are very ruined and only partially legible, so it is really difficult to distinguish the hands. Anselmo Canera's Veronese paintings are characterized by the bright Veronesian color and the Raphaelesque modules of the figures.
Instead the stuccos are by Bartolomeo Ridolfi, who at the time was the author of an important bust that was on the entrance door of the central hall, and which represented Bonifacio Poiana. The structure recalls that of the nearby Villa Saraceno, located in the isolated Vicenza countryside, both for decorative sobriety and for size. As with many other villas built in the plains at that time, the link between architecture and cultivated fields is even more visible since the topography does not allow the building to be elevated, for this reason stairs are inserted with the intention of accentuating the central plan of the structure, thus creating a detachment from the corn fields and pastures.
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