Italian Villas and Their Gardens November 19, 2012

Andrea Palladio, the celebrated Italian architect whose buildings in the Veneto inspired a new culture of building in England and North America, theorised that beauty results "from the form and correspondence of the whole." Since Antiquity Italian villas and their gardens have been designed harmoniously, with each working together to unite beauty and utility. This fusion has allowed villas to play an important cultural role: they made valuable agricultural and economic contributions while providing spaces for intellectual reflection, architectural innovation, aesthetic appreciation - and relaxation in some of the most picturesque locations imaginable! It may be no surprise then that many classical and Renaissance writers saw the villa as one of the most perfect human achievements. But expensive villas were also symbols of the power and exclusive lifestyles of those who paid for them. Hadrian's villa-city at Tivoli brought the centre of power directly to the emperor at the same time that it created a space for him to retreat and reflect on deeply personal matters, such as his mourning for Antinous. In Pompeii and Herculaneum, wealthy Romans oversaw the tending of their olives and their bountiful vintages, and commissioned some of the most vibrant and intriguing wall-paintings to survive from Antiquity, as at Pompeii's Villa of the Mysteries all thanks to cheap labour. Palladios elegant and simple villas in the Veneto and along the Brenta Canal were built to show the wealth and ease of their patrician owners, even as these were actually slipping away from them with the waning of the Venetian empire. Join us for this four-week course, as we track the tradition of Italian villa and garden design, picking up where Kevin McCloud and Monty Don left off. Details of this event may be subject to change. Please visit http://cce.sydney.edu.au/course/ivtg for more information or to register.

Official Website: http://cce.sydney.edu.au/course/IVTG