P1X1

Primary and Secondary roads appear to correspond to the location of the walls within the city. Urban sprawl is reflected in regions outside of the walls and not within the historic parts of the city.

Red- Primary Road

Orange- Secondary Road

Yellow- Heathland

Green- Nature Reserves/Forest/Park

Vicenza 1935

Historic Wall

WebRep

currentVote

noRating

noWeight

Bombing Map, Aerial 1600 Map

Place, Ruin, Texture, Dialogue

dialogue as a noun

WebRep

currentVote

noRating

noWeight

Place, Ruin, Texture, Dialogue

texture as a noun

WebRep

currentVote

noRating

noWeight

Place, Ruin, Texture, Dialogue

place as a noun, place as a verb

WebRep

currentVote

noRating

noWeight

Place, Ruin, Texture, Dialogue

ruin as a noun, ruin as a verb

WebRep

currentVote

noRating

noWeight

P1X1

The mapping exercise was an opportunity for me to create a memory map from the main places i visit everyday. Highlighted are the buildings which allow me to orient myself in the city. Anytime I get lost, I try to look for these buildings help guide me on my daily commutes to studio, teatro olimpico, raghetti's, piazza del signoria, or to the apartment.

P1X1

Presumed part of the wall, South gate?

In my mappe indagine, I highlighted the pontes (bridges) bright red as the ones built after WWII. Lighter red indicate the ones pre-existing before WWII. I am interested in how these influenced the walls and portas (gates) by serving as the entry points over the naturally created defense barriers. It is also interesting that the Campo Marzio is excluded out of the city walls, because it was marcio e paludosa (rotten and marshy). It was una zone umida (a wetland). This served as another natural barrier, because it was often flooded from the Bacchiglione and Retrone. There seems to be a main itineraio through Strada Palladio (Palladio Street). This is the only continuous straight road in Vicenza, and leads from the Porta de Monre in the ovest (west) and the porta in the est (east). This itinerario is indicated by the bold line. The perspective city walls are indicated by the blue dotted lines. The current river paths are highlighted in white, while the past river paths are indicated with  black dashed lines.

P1X1

I decided to focus on the smaller cultural hub that made up Vicenza around the 1400's or maybe 1500's. It so happens that the majority of the landmarks and interesting "clues" (indizi) I saw are within the boundary of the circle which represents what used to be Vicenza around that time. The dashed boundary represents the wall (mura) that was built around this specific area although not all of it.

1. Chiesa di San Lorenzo  - Gothic Church (Chiesa Gotica)
2. Cattedrale di Piazza Duomo - foundation (fondazione)
3. Basilica Palladiana - space (spazio)
4.Ponte di S. Michele - intertwined (intrecciati)
5. Teatro Olimpico - palimpsest (palinsesto)

P1X1

Many remnants of the old city of Vicenza remain evident. The frescoes on the exterior façade of the Palazzo Thiene, dating back to the 15^th century, are some visible examples. After some research and analysis, it became clear that the Fiume Retrone is the only river that has remained intact since Vicenza’s establishment. Also the Teatro Olimpico at the top of Corso Palladio shows evidence of the palimpsest of masonry and the structural integration necessary for it to last till present day.

Italian Vocabulary:

palinsesto- palimpsest

loggia-veranda, terrace, colonnade

integrazione- Integration

fiume- river

mappa citta- city map

P1X1

When it came to looking at the historic city (citta) map, the bridges near our house may have signified some sort of break in the medieval walled Vicenza, as indicated by the change in the ground materiality, preserved for the pedestrian, and brick hidden behind layers of stucco at the bridge's base.  This brick is potentially similar to that of the wall.  As we moved through the street running close to the water's edge, near where the wall used to sit, we came to the Teatro Olimpico and the head of Contra Palladio: the main promenade through the center of the old walled city.  The entire interior edge of Teatro Olimpico appears to be a large fragment (fragmento) of the wall, marking a threshold (soglia) into the promenade.  Changes in the ground materiality, similar to those at the bridge, are also present at this spot.  As we moved along the linear axis (asse lineare) the city center branches off to allow for pedestrian traffic to by Palladio's Basilica and around to Palladio's unfinished building, which sits next to the end of Contra Palladio.  This end to the promenade is also marked by a piece of the wall, creating another threshold in which to exit the historic city center.

Mariela Studio P1X1

 Il mio itinerario da scuola a casa
-strada maestra
-fiume crea un bordo

 

Map of Vicenza from 1599

 pavimentazione

 colonna

 un cotile deteriorato

 scale della Basilica

 mattone

mercato a Piazza Signori

P1X1

Architectural terms (Italian, Roman, Greek, Truscan) 

Coffer
Impluvium
Cornice
Portico
Basilica -- describes a building form that includes a central nave and aisles. typically a public building, also commonly applied to churches with this specific form. 
Nave
Aisle
Transept
Piazza -- city square (plaza)
Peristyle -- colonnade surrounding a courtyard
Rotunda

P1X1

This image is an overlay of a current and historical map of Vicenza.  The black and white image is more recent.  The color, historical map, is of the wall layers that surround the core of the city. The core is protected twice, meaning the route to the center encounters two walls or a wall and river one must pass before gaining access.

P1X1

Legend

Gold:           Current Major Roadways

Blue:            Current Rivers 

Light Blue:    Where Rivers and Streams Once Flowed

Red:             Points of Personal Grounding 

Yellow:         Most Intriguing Part of Personal Itinerary Today

Once surrounded by walls and forts, Vicenza's rivers and streams reflect the changes that took place to these massive elements.  Originally, the waterways hugged the exterior of the walls (penetrating in only 2 locations) and assisted in dividing the city into five sectors.  Over time, as the city grew both the walls and the waterways were altered, torn down, drained, and expanded to accommodate the greater population.  The above map centers on the waterways and highlights a couple of key monuments that I found helpful in orientating myself during our walk.  During our time off, we found ourselves hiking uphill, along an colonnade of arcades for pilgrims heading to the church above.  From the platform above, a full view of the city opened up, whereas the opposing side showed a far-off valley.   

L'Architecttura

apse:          l'abside

atrium:        l'atrio

basilica:      la basilica

portico:      il porticato

vault:          la volta

arch:           l'arco

nave:          la navata centrale

P1X1

Red- Primary Road

Orange- Secondary Road

Yellow- Heathland

Green- Nature Reserves/Forest/Park

Primary and secondary roads circumvent the heart of the city. Tertiary roads expand from the center and connect the primary and secondary roads.

WebRep

currentVote

noRating

noWeight

P1X1

The medieval wall was closely surrounded by water to the south, west, and east. In the historic city, arterial roads ran in the east-west and north-south direction, intersecting at nodes around major cultural centers. The path of the rivers have changed over time, altering the circulation through the city. The bombing of the city during WW2 was focused towards cultural centers and transportation infrastructure.

Thick red- existing wall
Thin red- speculative wall
Blue- speculative river
Dark grey- Corso Andrea Palladio
Light grey- speculative arterial road
black- bombing

P1X1

Darkened regions depict areas in Vicenza that have undergone the most change, such as the addition of new roads, removing old roads, and developing different ways of organizing the infrastructure. The addition of new developments and necessity for more transportation systems allows the city to expand from the existing fabric.

WebRep

currentVote

noRating

noWeight

Vicenza Mapping

Using the Bacchiglione River as its backbone and constructing the surrounding walls for protection helped the city of Vicenza with planning and safety over time. The city thrives off of its main arteria (artery) "Corso Andrea Palladio" primarily stemming from the north western corner where several exterior arteria's converge into the Rotoria (Roundabout).

P1X1

The past's influence...

Where I've been...so far.

Where I've been and seen the past being integrated with the present (red).  Each red dot represents a place where the past begin to be integrated into the present, whether is is the wall, elements of the past (such as the motifs at the studio), or pathways.  The large blue boundary is the present boundary of the city that has evolved over time from a small circle that revolved around the Basilica with small satellites that branched out from the initial center.  The small blue circle is what the boundary was at a time when the city was at a low point.  

             

Wall segment that was found while walking.

Working Italian architectural phrases:

Line: Linea

Layer/layers: Strato/stati

Structure: Struttura

Linear: Lineare

Plane: Piano

Facade: Facciata

Interior: Interno

Exterior: Esterno

Construct: Costruire

Aperture: Apertura

Armature: Armatura

Datum: Dato

Palimpsest: Palinsesto
Wall: Muro
Boundary: Confine

WebRep

currentVote

noRating

noWeight