Villa Badoer in Fratta Polesine

You're standing at Villa Badoer in Fratta Polesine, one of Andrea Palladio's famous villas. Start with the middle. The house sits high up on a solid base, and a broad staircase climbs to a porch with six Ionic columns. On top rests a big triangular pediment carrying the family coat of arms. It's a home dressed up as a little temple. This was the first time Palladio put a fully developed temple front on a villa, an idea later copied all over the world.