Vicenza

Vicenza (vēchān`tsä), city (1991 pop. 107,454), capital of Vicenza prov., Venetia, NE Italy. It is an agricultural, commercial, and highly diversified industrial center. Manufactures include machinery, chemicals, timber, and processed food. Originally a Roman town, later the seat of a Lombard duchy, Vicenza became a free commune and joined (12th cent.) the Lombard League. It was stormed by Emperor Frederick II in 1236 and later fell to various powers (including Verona and Milan) before being annexed (1404) by Venice. Andrea Palladio (1508–80) made Vicenza famous for his interpretation of classical architecture. The basilica, the Loggia del Capitano, the Teatro Olimpico, the Villa Capra (called La Rotonda), and the Palazzo Chiericato (now housing a museum), all designed by Palladio, inspired the Georgian style in England and the Colonial style in the United States. Vicenza also has a noted Gothic cathedral, with a polyptych (1356) by Lorenzo Veneziano. Bartolomeo Montagna was the founder, in the late 15th cent., of the Vicenza school of painting.