Gallerie di Palazzo Thiene

Vicenza's Gallerie di Palazzo Thiene returned a Renaissance palace to public use after the Comune acquired it in 2021. Begun for the Thiene family to designs by Giulio Romano and continued by the young Palladio, it now houses civic art collections.

Why it matters

In 1542 Marcantonio and Adriano Thiene commissioned Giulio Romano to design a residence linking the fifteenth-century family house with a larger, block-spanning scheme. Palladio took charge of construction after Giulio Romano returned to Mantua and died in 1546, adapting the design and façade. Work stopped when Marcantonio died in 1560, leaving the ambitious plan incomplete. The Comune acquired the palace in 2021; it became a venue of the Musei Civici di Vicenza in January 2022.

What to notice

The ground floor retains Giulio Romano's rusticated surfaces and an atrium on four columns. The piano nobile shows Palladio's hand in its trabeations and Corinthian capitals. Stuccoes and sculptures by Alessandro Vittoria and Bartolomeo Ridolfi, with frescoes by Bernardino India and Anselmo Canera, record the palace's decoration. The galleries display paintings from the former bank collection, ceramics from the Antonibon factory, nineteenth-century popular Venetian wares and sculpture by Arturo Martini. A permanent gallery presents works by Vicentine sculptor Nereo Quagliato, donated in memory of his son.

Context and history

The Thiene palace was conceived as an ambitious residence unifying a city block, but only part of the plan was completed. Banca Popolare di Vicenza acquired the building in 1872 and housed its offices and collections there. Following the bank's crisis, the Comune bought the palace in 2021 and brought it into the civic museum system the following January. The galleries combine works from the bank's holdings with the Antonibon ceramics, Venetian wares and Quagliato sculpture collection.