By Antonio Foscari

Visiting the villas built by Andrea Palladio (1508 1580), one inevitably asks oneself how people lived there in the sixteenth century. Palladio articulated the villas as small towns (piccole città) that formed a unit with adjacent service buildings and farm fields. Within their walls lived a multitude of people of all ages, social backgrounds and various skills. They were the venue for significant moments of public life. In these houses, the principles of hygiene, privacy and comfort, which we consider essential today, did not apply; furniture as such did not exist.