Magnificent Italian Villas and Palaces

From Publishers Weekly
Italy’s stunning villas and palaces get a noble treatment by Cunaccia, an architect and journalist specializing in the history of European architecture, and Listri, a Florence-based photographer. Each brings an appropriate mix of expertise and approachability; Cunaccia’s prose is understandable for non-specialists but specific enough to delight aficionados, and Listri’s photographs vary between sweeping panoramas that show opulent sitting rooms in all their chandeliered glory to detailed close-ups of statues and building facades. The book showcases 25 of Italy’s most impressive residences, spanning the country from Venice to Rome to Sicily, and encompassing renowned landmarks like Tuscany’s Medici Villas and The Doge’s Palace in Venice, as well as lesser-known gems, such as Sicily’s Palazzo Biscari and Lombardy’s Villa Bettoni Cazzago. The authors put each palace into historical context and discuss its artistic influences, whether neoclassical, baroque or mannerism. 400 color and b&w photos.Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Book Description
Italy boasts a rich cultural history that has found its expression in beautiful, powerful architectural forms, at times measured and hidden, at times ostentatious and triumphant. This volume focuses on about thirty residential villas and palaces, giving the reader the opportunity to visit the magnificent palaces of Venice, Genoa, and Mantua, the elegant villas designed by Palladio and decorated by Tiepolo; the country villas of Tuscany, hidden in olive groves and vineyards; and the austere palaces of Florence-not to mention the Versaces' villa on Lake Como. The interiors of these palaces are magnificent to behold: splendid tapestries, exquisite paintings and murals, sumptuous furniture and interior decoration of all kinds, from elegant carved molding to magnificently inlaid and tiled floors to beautiful renaissance, baroque, and neoclassical furniture.


About the Author
Cesare Cunaccia is an architect and a journalist specializing in the history of European architecture.

Massimo Listri is a world-renowned photographer living in Florence. He collaborated with Cunaccia on two previous Rizzoli titles, Hidden Tuscany and Hidden Naples and the Amalfi Coast.



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Italy boasts a rich cultural history that has found its expression in beautiful, powerful architectural forms, at times measured and hidden, at times ostentatious and triumphant. This volume focuses on about thirty residential villas and palaces, giving the reader the opportunity to visit the magnificent palaces of Venice, Genoa, and Mantua, the elegant villas designed by Palladio and decorated by Tiepolo; the country villas of Tuscany, hidden in olive groves and vineyards; and the austere palaces of Florence-not to mention the Versaces' villa on Lake Como. The interiors of these palaces are magnificent to behold: splendid tapestries, exquisite paintings and murals, sumptuous furniture and interior decoration of all kinds, from elegant carved molding to magnificently inlaid and tiled floors to beautiful renaissance, baroque, and neoclassical furniture.


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