Travel Notebook of Vincenzo Scamozzi

While returning from a long Parisian sojourn in 1600, the architect Vicentino Vincenzo Scamozzi (1548-1616) described and illustrated the wonderful architectural features he saw along his route to Italy. His sketches, mostly depicting churches and cathedrals, consist of both floor plans and blue prints as well as gorgeous depictions of the buildings’ façades and interiors. Scamozzi was a native of Vicenza and was active there and in the Republic of Venice for most of his career. The numerous architectural monuments for which he is responsible mark him as the most important figure of Venetian architecture, second only to the great Andrea Palladio (1508-80). The two architects are connected by the Teatro Olimpico, a theater in Vicenza. Its construction was begun under Palladio, but he died only six months into the theater’s construction, and thus it had to be finished under a young Scamozzi between 1580 and 1585. This notebook, which is currently stored in the Civic Museum of Vicenza, long lay undiscovered and did not surface until 1959, counting it among the important discoveries of historic manuscripts made during the 20th century.