The ideal model of a suburban residence desired by Leo X (1513-1521), son of Lorenzo the Magnificent, and continued by his cardinal cousin Giulio de' Medici, th

The Roman architect and engineer Vitruvius declared firmitas, utilitas, and venustas-firmness, commodity, and delight- to be the three essential attributes of a

Villa Madama, Raphael's late masterwork of architecture, landscape, and decoration for the Medici popes, is a paradigm of the Renaissance villa. The creation of

"Palladio is the Bible," Thomas Jefferson once said. "You should get it and stick to it." With his simple, gracious, perfectly proportioned villas, Andrea Palla

The Villa Madama, one of Raphael's most important architectural projects, was unfinished at the time of the artist's death in 1520, and though some further work