A comprehensive handbook exploring the career of Andrea Palladio, the architect who transformed the concept of Western architecture.

Andrea Palladio (1508–1580) is known as the architect who has guided Western design philosophy for half a millennium, creating forms that have been studied and reproduced from age to age and around the world. For architects and the public alike, his buildings have become enduring testaments to his architectural genius as creator of a timeless classicism. When Abbeville Press first published Andrea Palladio in 1994, it was selected by Choice Magazine as “Outstanding Academic Book 1994,” while The World of Interiors called it “undoubtedly one of the most important architectural books to be published for some time.” Now Abbeville is pleased to release the revised concise edition of this essential resource.

Featuring a newly updated bibliography, this handsome volume spans the entire career of Palladio, illuminating his work in the context of his historical era and his own extraordinary life. It invites us to view Palladio’s masterpieces through the lens of Paolo Marton, moving across the thresholds of myriad villas, churches, and public edifices to illustrate the elegant proportions, crisp lines, and integrated geometries that are the hallmarks of Palladio’s vision. From the immortal Villa Rotonda to the Venetian churches of the Redentore and San Giorgio Maggiore, from the city halls to the bridges, each masterpiece is described using plans, maps, and contemporary drawings and etchings along with brilliant photography.

Combining modern scholarship with intriguing narrative, Palladio will educate and enlighten, helping readers understand the passion, joy, and beauty of one of the world’s most fascinating ages of architecture.