Comparing The Form And Ideology Of Three Italian Villas

The Villa; The Form and Ideology of Country Houses
Taking three Italian villas examples discuss its principal design concerns and motivations. Analyse its connection to the Italian city. Why did the Italian villa become the model for many villas in other cultures?

What I hope to investigate is the ideology and form of three Italian villas, their principal design concerns and motivations. I will analyse its connection to the Italian city, and how the Italian villa became such a far-reaching and critical model for the design of villas throughout other cultures worldwide. For one to understand the thinking and principals behind Italian villa design, I will first discuss the birth of the villa, the purpose by which it fulfils and how it became

The city dweller would often view the country life ideally as they would not have to deal with the work and struggles of the agricultural aspect of country life. In terms of the villa’s form, it is ever-changing, as the concept of the villa is to suit the needs of the current proprietor; these needs develop and alter as time passes . Le Corbusier once referred to a client’s villa as a “domain” showing that his particular view of the villa is that of a prized possession of its wealthy owner, flaunting their class and social status within society. A villa is never a purely practical residence due to the aspect of leisure and pleasure being one of the driving forces behind its purpose as a building. Therefore I would argue that the form of the villa is evolving constantly to suit the needs of its inhabitants, causing difficulty in a clear-cut analysis of the types of villa; however it is commonly acknowledged that during Roman times, two categories of villa have been established; the compact, cubic villa and the open sprawling villa

Here he wants to “sleep or simply rest, forgetting mundane cares”. The villa is permanently attached to the city that it relies upon; the economic and political growth of a city usually gives birth to surrounding villas, as there is substantial economic cohesion to manage country estates.
While the villa developed rapidly in some countries, other countries such as France were slower to adapt to the villa design. An attachment to the feudal country estate resulted in the high society confronting the idea of straying from their developed and homely castles for the hope of a superior lifestyle in the villa; development of the villa became lethargic in the west. An example of this can be seen in feudal France, where the château was a symbol of wealth and country comfort. This trend continued even into the early nineteenth century, where landowners would take much inspiration for their rural dwellings from the noble’s