e is old. In
like manner, Girolamo Pironi of Vicenza has executed praiseworthy
works of sculpture and painting in many places in his city. But among
all the masters of Vicenza he who most deserves to be extolled is the
architect Andrea Palladio, from his being a man of singular judgment
and brain, as many works demonstrate that were executed by him in his
native country and elsewhere, and in particular the Palazzo della
Comunita, a building much renowned, with two porticoes composed in the
Doric Order with very beautiful columns. The same Palladio has erected
a palace, beautiful and grand beyond all belief, with an infinity of
the richest ornaments, for Count Ottavio de' Vieri, and another like
it for Count Giuseppe di Porto, which could not be more beautiful or
magnificent, nor more worthy than it is of no matter how great a
Prince; and another is being built even now for Count Valerio
Chiericati under the direction of the same master, very similar in
majesty and grandeur to the ancient buildings so much extolled. For
the Counts of Valmorana, likewise, he has now carried almost to
completion another most superb palace, which does not yield in any
particular to any of those mentioned above. In the same city, upon the
piazza commonly called the Isola, he has built another very
magnificent fabric for Signor Valerio Chiericati; and at Pugliano, a
place in the Vicentino, a most beautiful house for the Chevalier,
Signor Bonifazio Pugliana. In the same territory of Vicenza, at
Finale, he has erected another fabric for Messer Biagio Saraceni; and
one at Bagnolo for Signor Vittore Pisani, with a large and very rich
court in the Doric Order with most beautiful columns. Near Vicenza, at
the township of Lisiera, he has constructed for Signor Giovan
Francesco Valmorana another very rich edifice, with four towers at
the corners, which make a very fine effect. At Meledo, likewise, for
Count Francesco Trissino and Lodovico his brother, he has begun a
magnificent palace upon a hill of some eminence, with many ranges of
loggie, staircases, and other appurtenances of a villa. At Campiglia,
likewise in the Vicentino, he is making for Signor Mario Ropetta
another similar habitation, with so many conveniences, rich apartments
of rooms, loggie, staircases, and chambers dedicated to various
virtues, that it will be, when once carried to completion, an abode
rather for a King than for a nobleman. At Lunedo he has built another,
in the manner o