Description
The Loggia and Odeo Cornaro is a refined early 16th-century complex on Via Cesarotti, a short walk from the Basilica of Saint Anthony in Padua: the theater and music hall that the patron Alvise Cornaro had built in his garden.
The Loggia, designed by Giovanni Maria Falconetto in 1524, has five arches like a Roman triumphal arch and served as the backdrop for comedies, with the audience in the courtyard. The Odeo, for music and poetry, hides frescoed rooms and a vault with grotesques.
The Odeo was designed to sound good. The architect Sebastiano Serlio tells of empty jars set into the vault to improve the sound, and of fires under the floor, as in ancient baths, to protect the instruments from the damp.
On the Loggia's stage Ruzante, Angelo Beolco, Cornaro's friend, performed his comedies. Among the patron's guests was also a young Andrea Palladio.
The Loggia, designed by Giovanni Maria Falconetto in 1524, has five arches like a Roman triumphal arch and served as the backdrop for comedies, with the audience in the courtyard. The Odeo, for music and poetry, hides frescoed rooms and a vault with grotesques.
The Odeo was designed to sound good. The architect Sebastiano Serlio tells of empty jars set into the vault to improve the sound, and of fires under the floor, as in ancient baths, to protect the instruments from the damp.
On the Loggia's stage Ruzante, Angelo Beolco, Cornaro's friend, performed his comedies. Among the patron's guests was also a young Andrea Palladio.