Villas of the Veneto: Villa Cordellina Lombardi (Montecchio Maggiore)

Villa Cordellina Lombardi in Montecchio Maggiore is possibly one of the most elegant villas in the Vicenza area, an obviously baroque homage to Palladio's neoclassicism, introduced a little more than two hundred years before this villa's construction.  It has all of Palladio's symmetry, if not Palladio's concern for the totality of the building.  (The back and sides are a little ho-hum.)  However, just like Villa Valmarana ai Nani, the architecture is not the highlight of this villa, but the colorful, swirling frescoes by Tiepolo to be found inside.  

Villas of the Veneto: Villa Valmarana ai Nani (Vicenza)

Only a few steps away from the church in Monte Berico and Palladio's masterpiece the Rotonda, Villa Valmarana ai Nani is certainly not an attention seeker.  Within the compounds, protected by high walls topped with statues of dwarves, is a modest villa with no striking feature other than a disproportionately small pediment and a grand view of Colli Berici.  Inside, however, are the Tiepolos' Rococo masterpiece.