Vicenza - Basilica Palladiana

On the southeast side of the Piazza dei Signori in Vicenza stands the Basilica Palladiana (1549-1614), Palladio's masterpiece, with open colonnades of two storys (lower part Doric and upper part Ionic), a very impressive combination. The basilica was not built as a church but as a meeting-place for the Grand Council. On the first floor is a hall 52m/172ft long with a wooden vaulted roof. In front of the west end of the basilica is a marble statue of Palladio (1859).