UNESCO World Heritage Site - Palladium Villas - Italy | PRIMA.TV - On-line International TV

The City of Vicenza and the Palladian Villas of the Veneto is a World Heritage Site protecting a cluster of works by the architect Andrea Palladio. UNESCO inscribed the site on the World Heritage List in 1994. At first the site was called "Vicenza, City of Palladio" and only buildings in the immediate area of Vicenza were included. Various types of buildings were represented including the Teatro Olimpico, palazzi and a few villas. Most of Palladio's surviving villas lay outside the site. However, in 1996 the site was expanded. Its present name reflects the fact that it includes Palladian villas throughout the Veneto. The term villa was used to describe a country house. Often rich families in the Veneto also had a house in town called a palazzo. In most cases the owners named their palazzi and villas with the family surname, hence there is both a Palazzo Chiericati in Vicenza and a Villa Chiericati in the countryside, similarly there is a Palazzo Foscari in Venice and a Villa Foscari in the countryside. Somewhat confusingly there are multiple Villas Pisani, including two by Palladio. ( source Wikipedia )