Quinto Vicentino, Italy. The public space in front of the Palladian villa Thiene as a theme of urban regeneration and tourism enhancement

This work considers the small town of Quinto Vicentino located not far from Vicenza in the Veneto region, Italy, as a case study, formulating proposals for a new urban design focused on the historic piazza. The piazza of Quinto Vicentino is characterised by the presence of Villa Thiene whose architect was Andrea Palladio, and which has housed the town council (municipal government) since 1871. Villa Thiene and its presence forms the basis of the regeneration proposals. The intention is to enhance the value of the building and develop the tourism potential of the town. The villa in fact nowadays seems to have been forgotten, inside the piazza which unfortunately is used as vehicular thoroughfare and for parking. The idea is composed of remodelling in the style of traditional Italian piazzas characterised by the shape of a recognisable urban space around which lie the public buildings of the town. Both the classical and medieval piazza are recognised by the presence of volumes arranged hierarchically around the empty space of the piazza. The piazza is the urban fact around which the minor building development is distributed. The methodology looks at the town as a result of its spatial structure. More than political, social, and economic systems, reasons for its special nature can be found because of its constancy. The method adopted is based on studying the history of the place to understand the urban morphology of it. The physical specificity of the urban form is explored with the aim of elaborating a design process to reinforce the public space as a reference point for the community. Our work is the result of students’ workshops, developed in the framework of the course on “Architectural and Urban Composition 2” taught on the master’s degree in Architectural Engineering at the Department of Civil, Environmental, Architectural Engineering of the University of Padua. Our research has been carried on with a more general purpose that is to debate about the urban image, applying the theories and techniques of building design