It was built between 1549 and 1614 in Signori Square, in the drawing room of the Vicenza city, on a project by the great Renaissance architect. "It is not possible to describe the impression that the Basilica of Palladio makes", with these words he tried to express the emotions he felt when he saw this splendid building for the first time, the writer and poet Johann Wolfgang von Goethe.
Designed with a double order of loggias, which still today give the sight all its elegance and solemnity, involving with the play of light and shadow, created by the repetition of the same architectural module.
To enhance it are the two superimposed orders, Doric-Tuscan below and Ionic above, with a structure based on the use of the Serlian window, consisting of a round arch, supported by columns. At the north corner of the Basilica stands the Bissara tower, also called Piazza tower, 82 m high, built at the behest of the Bissari family, in 1226.
Upstairs the Palladian Basilica is entirely occupied by a huge hall, with no supports in the center to support it, and was the seat of the Council of the fifteenth century. The ambitious work of an overturned ship's hull was covered with copper plates, partly supported by large arches, inspired by the Ragione Palace in Padua, built in 1306.
The coating of the Gothic facade instead recalls the same motif as the facade of the Doge's Palace in Venezia, with red and yellow Verona marble rhombuses. The structure of the public magistracy of Vicenza found space on the first floor, while on the ground floor there were a series of colorful shops.
The second floor leads to the Domus Comestabilis room, and to the large terrace above the basilica, which offers many tourists from all over the world a magnificent view over the roofs of the city and the surrounding hills. The many statues that crown the building's balustrade were carved between the end of the 16th and 17th centuries.
The beautiful square, which was upset by the aerial bombing of the war, was subsequently repaved and, at that time, it was decided to lower the level by creating two steps, as a base, in order to give the building impetus and lightness. Today, the large hall on the first floor is set up for art exhibitions and conferences, thanks to its centrality and its suggestive setting. The Palladian Basilica has been a national monument since 2014 and a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1994.
