Vincenzo Scamozzi
b. Vicenza, 1548 or 1552;
d. Venice, 1616.

Vincenzo Scamozzi, a late Renaissance theorist, eclectic architect and theatre designer. In his youth he took part in the activities of the Accademia Olimpica in Vicenza, guided and influenced by his father, Giandomenico Scamozzi. In 1569 he was spo?radically in Venice. In 1574 he read Vitruvius, jotting down an abundance of notes and actively accepting Vitruvius’s statement Architectura est scientia. In 1578 he went to Rome, where he spent eighteen months making a careful study of ancient buildings. In a second visit to Rome (1585) and on journeys through Austria, Hungary, Germany, France and Switzerland (1559 and 1604) he developed his eclectic view of previous architectural styles, learning from and admiring buildings such as the Gothic cathedral which were generally despised by his contemporaries. Many believe that Palladio was the dominant influence on Scamozzi, perhaps because he carried on projects originally started by the master (the Villa Rotonda, Teatro Olimpico etc.), but his debt to Serlio was probably far greater; no doubt, though, that in his maturity he achieved a personal and independent style. He is mostly quoted and remembered as the author of one of the later and comprehensive Renaissance treatises on architecture (L’Idea dell’architettura universale ? 6 books out of 10 planned) published in Venice in 1615, the year before his death. He sees the building as “a scientific habit lodged in the architect’s mind”, stressing with originality the independence and fullness of intellectual creation vis-?-vis the practical act. As “author” of a considerable number of projects and buildings, from Palazzo Godi in Vicenza (1569) to Palazzo Contarini in Venice (1609), he is rather aptly summed up by Milizia’s judgement (in Memorie degli architetti antichi e moderni, 1785, Vol. II): “simple, majestic and correct”. He was prepared to diverge from Palladio, for example at the Teatro Olimpico, where, in contrast to Palladio’s adherence to Vitruvian ideas, Scamozzi tried to integrate the stage setting into the theatrical space. In his theatre at Sabbioneta (1588-90), the first Italian building meant to house a theatre with its own fa?ades, it is clear from the surviving description of the (demolished) stage that Scamozzi rejected the architectural proscenium of Palladio’s Olimpico. Scamozzi’s Villa Molino alla Mandria (1597) is almost an antithesis to Palladio’s Villa Rotonda. The most characteristic of his town palaces are the Palazzo Galeazzo Trissino al Corso in Vicenza and the Palazzo Contarini in Venice, with a Serlian lower part.

List of major buildings / works:
Palazzo Godi, Vicenza, 1569. Villa Pisani, Lonigo, 1576.
Villa Capra (La Rotonda; continuing Palladio’s earlier work), Vicenza, 1580-91.
Procuratie Nuove, Venice, 1582-93.
Stage of Palladio’s Teatro Olimpico, Vicenza, 1584-5.
Theatre, Sabbioneta, 1588-90.
Church and Monastery of S. Nicola del Tolentiru (on building initiated by Palladio), Venice, 1591.
Anteroom, Library of S. Marco, Venice, 1591.
Palazzo Galeazzo Trissino al Corso, Vicenza, 1592.
Palazzo Duodo a S. Maria Zobenigo, Venice, 1592.
Villa Duodo, church and 6 chapels of S. Giorgio, Monselice, 1593.
Villa Molino alla Mandria, 1597. Salzburg Cathedral (work to), 1607.
Villa Trevisan, S. Dona di Piave, 1609.
Palazzo Contanni, Venice, 1609.
Palazzo Comunale, Bergamo, 1611.

Bibliography
Vincenzo Scamozzi, Taccumo di viaggio da Pang: a Venezia, Venice and Rome, 1600 (ed. F. Barbieri, 1959);
Vincenzo Scamozzi, L’Idea dell’architettura universale, 1615 (Books III and VI only ed. J. Browne, London, 1669).
Franco Barbieri, Vincenzo Scamozzi, Vicenza, 1952.