Friends of Palladio is proud to support the following projects:

The Tablinum fellowships

Two institutions with different cultural backgrounds but shared fundamental principles and objectives have joined forces to launch the TABLINUM initiative. The aim of the Palladio Study Centre (Italy) and Stiftung Bibliothek Werner Oechslin (Switzerland) is to promote greater interest in rigorous research, and in particular research conducted on historical sources, by offering fellowships. The distinctive feature of the TABLINUM fellowships is that they provide the opportunity to get to know and benefit from both institutions, each with its own specific orientation and strengths.

For this initiative, the Friends of Palladio have received a grant from the Gladys Krieble Delmas Foundation.

On-site seminar

Guarini and Juvarra in Turin, directed by Joseph Connors, Giuseppe Dardanello and Susan Klaiber. (Turin, May 19-23, 2024)

On the occasion of the four hundredth anniversary of his birth, the seminar offered an insight into the entire architectural and graphic works of Guarino Guarini (1624-1683). The aim was to subject his buildings and drawings to a direct analysis, also in dialogue and comparison with the work of Filippo Juvarra (1678-1736). Particular attention was paid to reconstructing the design process of the Theatine architect, from the moment when he points the compass at the sheet of paper, to the choice of materials and techniques for translating the project into a built structure.

The seminar took place at the State Archives of Turin, which holds the largest collection of Guarini's drawings (about 150), and in the buildings designed by Guarini and Juvarra, with on-site lectures in which the various specialists gave a description of the monument and coordinated the discussion. The seminar was open to architecture and art historians, architects, engineers and all scholars interested in the subject.

Participation grant for a U.S. scholar

66th Course on Palladian Architecture | Palladio and Water (Vicenza + Veneto, August, 29 - September, 4 2024)

Palladio was born in Padua, a stone’s throw from the Piovego Canal, a waterway used by his father, Pietro della Gondola to transport sacks of flour on a small barge. Water is an important feature in Palladio’s architecture in the world of country residences since it was as a means of moving goods and people: the Villa Pisani at Montagnana is built over a canal and, through a trapdoor in the floor in one of its rooms, goods were hoisted up directly from boats into the house. Water is also crucial in making it possible to admire from an appropriate distance the façades of the great Venetian churches. It is an essential part of comfortable living in homes such as at the Villa Barbaro at Maser, where water from the nymphaeum is piped to the kitchens, fills the garden fountains and quenches the thirst of travellers. Palladio also reflected on the various ‘forms’ that hold water: he designed wellheads, hand basins and kitchen sinks.

The seven-day 66th Course on Palladian Architecture continued with its traditional programme of visits to Palladio's most important buildings, this year with water as the interpretive key. Classroom seminars have been reduced to a minimum to allow as much time as possible for seminars in Palladio's buildings. They were led by a teaching team made up of renowned international Palladian specialists, assisted by young researchers.