Article written by Giancarlo Galan

President of the Veneto Region

When Thomas Jefferson, the third president of the United States, wrote in his own copy of
‘ The Four Books of Architecture’ “ Palladio is the Bible”, he was not only thinking about
architecture. For the great American President Palladio was the Veneto, the land of the Venetian
Republic, a free state between absolute monarchies, a republic of equality, that Venetian
mythography that had actually/ really identified with the perfect form of government thought
out/devised by Plato.

Like the English Palladian supporters of the 16th and 17th century, so it was for Jefferson, the
rationality of the Palladian architecture embodied a knowledge of government which was
independent from dominance of the will of an individual. The magnificent simplicity of the shapes
reflected the customs of men committed to dynamic commerce all over the world, according to an
economy based on saving that avoided ostentatiousness, but nothing was lost in terms of grandness.
Therefore, when choosing his residence, the American president did not take a drawing of a French
or Spanish palace, but a Villa from the Veneto, which was a design taken from Andrea Palladio.

As President of the Veneto Region I wish to express my pleasure of having an exhibition that
academics and institutions, both national and international, have wanted, to celebrate the same
symbol of architecture on the occasion of 500th anniversary of his birth.

Celebrating such occasions also means taking on commitments and our commitment has one
objective: the defence and the enhancement of the extraordinary landscape where Palladio left a
feeling, which is the responsibility of everyone to maintain.

When talking about the so-called “Palladian landscape” that the most conscientious historians and
geographers talk about, it is primarily a cultural landscape, made from architectural and natural
signs, such as popular memories or those described in the pages of those writers from Piovene,
Parise, Berto Meneghello, Comisso, Buzzati, Rigoni Stern, Zanzotto and by the other writers that
have dedicated such books to our region that have made literature from the 20th century Veneto
mythical.

To summarise, for us today celebrating Palladio, means betting on our whether we can be
considered to be real heirs and custodians of his immortal lesson.