THE VILLAS of PALLADIO
Giovanni Giaconi

Specifications:
Publisher: Princeton Architectural Press
Author: Giovanni Giaconi with text by Kim Williams
152 pages, 100 four-color plates
22 B/W
12 x 9", 30.5 x 22.8 cm
ISBN 1-56898-396-4
Hardcover binding
Publication date October 2003


From the Publisher
The Renaissance architect and builder Andrea Palladio is arguable the most influential architect in Western history, and certainly the most beloved. His sixteenth-century villas in the Italian Veneto revolutionized the course of architecture, and the principles on which he based his work are still felt today.

For the past several years, Italian watercolorist Giovanni Giaconi has devoted his talents to creating exquisite large-format pen-and-ink watercolor renderings of all thirty-two of Palladio’s villas. Each drawing captures the timeless beauty of Palladian architecture and provides a detailed record of these masterpieces. Together with brief descriptions of each villa, samples of Giaconi’s preparatory sketches, and where available, Palladio’s own woodcuts, these works of art leave a deep impression of Palladio’s oeuvre and give the reader an opportunity to compare the original designs with the actual buildings and their present state of conservation.

This beautiful book is a must-have and the perfect gift for architects, travelers, and lovers of Italy and Palladio’s architecture.

Published by Princeton Architectural Press. New York 2003.

TRADITIONAL HOME, September 2005:
For armchair travelers, try Italian watercolorist Giovanni Giaconi's beautifully illustrated The Villas of Palladio, which includes American architect Kim Williams' brief descriptions of each villa.

ARCHITECTURAL RECORD, September 2003:
"...carefully scaled, meticulously detailed, lovingly colored...the watercolors form a wonderful historical record of the villas' condition today."