Guido Beltramini

The catalog of the Aldo Manutiu exhibition, 500 years after his death, is a tribute to the most famous printer in the history of publishing. It tells how the book changed the world and how and why this change happened in Venice, cosmopolitan city and gateway between East and West. But it is mainly a journey through the world of culture and the arts in Venice between the end of the fifteenth century and the start of the sixteenth, in a crucial period featuring major figures like the painters Bellini, Carpaccio, and the young Giorgione (with the debut of his pupil Titian), illustrious visiting foreign artists like Albrecht Durer, and intellectuals of European fame such as Erasmus of Rotterdam.

Andrea Palladio's villa architecture is still admired for its elegance and harmony, but little is known about the person behind the buildings. Experienced Palladio researcher Guido Beltramini has worked meticulously on material from historical documents about Palladio's person and life, and assembled a full picture of the architect. Palladio in Private follows his career, his rise from being the ordinary miller's son Pietro della Gondola to become the architect Andrea Palladio. Beltramini does not just explore Palladio's origins, his training as a stonemason, and his complex relationship with powerful clients and scholars, but also his private life: his jovial character, his life as a married man with five children, and not least his profound conviction that architecture can and must enrich life. The text is complemented by numerous illustrations.

Die Villen und Paläste Andrea Palladios wurden zum Inbegriff der gebauten Sehnsucht nach Süden.Über den Architekten selbst weiß man heute wenig. Der namhafteste Palladio- Forscher legt die bisher verborgenen Spuren seiner Lebensgeschichte frei.