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It can be safely said that Andrea Palladio ranks not only among the most famous, but also among the most influential architects of all time. However, when we turn to his life and to his person, we find that very little of either the man or his life is known. He was born in Padua in 1508, of humble family, but grew up in Vicenza. He was originally trained as a sculptor and as a stone mason. In 1541 he went to Rome where his eyes were opened to the full glory of classic architecture and so much that he turned to the study of ancient buildings. Palladio was a superb architect, he built churches, town and country houses, public buildings and bridges.
Why all this fame and influence? The answer, in all likelihood, lies in the fact that Andrea Palladio was more than an interpreter of a particular style, he was and remains—the spokesman for the belief in valid rules, for the belief that there is a correct and right way to design. One can even go further and call him a spokesman for absolute standards.
Palladio is the only architect after whom an architectural idiom is named: Palladianism.
Palladianism is the conviction that a universally applicable vocabulary of architectural forms is both desirable and possible, that this vocabulary was developed by the ancient Romans, and a careful study and use of these forms will result in Beauty.
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