I Quattro Libri dell'Architettura Published

Andrea Palladio published I Quattro Libri dell'Architettura (The Four Books of Architecture) in Venice in 1570, a systematic treatise covering building materials and construction, the classical orders, domestic architecture including his own influential villa designs, public and civic buildings, and reconstructions of ancient Roman temples. Illustrated with Palladio's own woodcuts and grounded in his direct study of Roman ruins, the work set out clear proportional rules for applying classical vocabulary to contemporary buildings. Translated into English, French and other languages over the following two centuries, it became the primary vehicle by which Palladio's classicism reached Britain and colonial America, giving rise to the Palladian and later Georgian and Neo-Palladian architectural movements far beyond Italy.