Palazzo Chiericati

Museum and Palace in Vicenza

CC BY-SA 4.0 / Ernesto Sguotti

The Palazzo Chiericati is a Renaissance palace in Vicenza (northern Italy), designed by Andrea Palladio. Palladio was asked to design and build the palazzo by Count Girolamo Chiericati. The architect started building the palace in 1550, and some further work was completed under the patronage of Chiericati’s son, Valerio. However, the palazzo was not fully finished until about 1680, possibly by Carlo Borella.

Palladio also designed a country home, the Villa Chiericati, for the family. The palazzo was built in an area called “piazza dell’Isola” (island square, currently Piazza Matteotti), which housed the wood and cattle market. At that time, it was an islet surrounded by the Retrone and Bacchiglione streams, and to protect the structure from the frequent floods, Palladio designed it on an elevated position: the entrance could be accessed by a triple Classic-style staircase.

Museo Civico, Vicenza’s municipal museum. On the ground floor are archeological collections, and on the main floor, a picture gallery displays the city’s collection of paintings. This contains major works by painters of the Vicenza school (such as Bartolomeo Montagna and Giovanni Buonconsiglio) and the best known Venetian masters, including Carpaccio, Veronese, Tintoretto and Tiepolo.

The Palazzo Chiericati appears in our Complete Guide to Visiting Vicenza!

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