What does Thomas Jefferson and Italy have in common you might ask. Well look on the back of the American nickle and you'll find out. Thomas Jefferson used a villa(La Rotonda) in Vicenza, Italy for the model of his Montecello home. I first saw this magnifico, meraviglioso villa or mansion when I was only 19 years old and then again this past summer 2009. It's one of the highlights of Vicenza, Italy the city Andrea Palladio built.

Villa Capra "La Rotonda" is a Renaissance villa just outside Vicenza, northern Italy, designed by Andrea Palladio. The correct name is Villa Almerico-Capra. It is also known as La Rotonda, Villa Rotunda, Villa La Rotonda, and Villa Almerico. The name "Capra" derives from the Capra brothers, who completed the building after it was ceded to them in 1591. Like other works by Palladio in Vicenza and the surrounding area, the building is conserved as part of the World Heritage Site "City of Vicenza and the Palladian Villas of the Veneto".


In 1565 a priest, Paolo Almerico, on his retirement from the Vatican (as referendario apostolico of Pope Pius IV and afterwards Pius V), decided to return to his home town of Vicenza in the Venetian countryside and build a country house. This house, later known as 'La Rotonda', was to be one of Palladio's best-known legacies to the architectural world. Villa Capra may have inspired a thousand subsequent buildings, but the villa was itself inspired by the Pantheon in Rome.

Images of The Rotonda (Villa Capra), Vicenza, Italy, begun 1550, by Andrea Palladio. Digital Imaging Project: Art historical images of European and North American architecture and sculpture from classical Greek to Post-modern. Scanned from slides tak - Cached - Similar

Pantheon - Rome, Italy Sep 13, 2009 ... Pantheon: History, description, photos and visitor information for Pantheon in Rome, Lazio, Italy.
www.sacred-destinations.com/italy/rome-pantheon - Cached - Similar

I have another connection for you Villa:

Thomas Jefferson is also credited with bringing the first pasta machine (either that or the plans for one, I forget) to the United States. He served pasta at Monticello...

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Essex Shipbuilding Museum

In addition to being close friends with Filippo Mazzei, Thomas Jefferson signed a famous document along with another well-known Italian, William Paca...

Ok Villa I'll take the bait.

Why should it not be a holiday? He was indeed a founding father. Does the Declaration of Independence mean nothing to us today? True, many of the founders probably did shameful acts but they still are the founders and should be remembered for what they established!

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Dimmi con chi vai e ti dirò chi sei.

Right,

but you still didn't answer my question. What does Thomas Jefferson's private life have to do with us honoring and remembering him for his accomplishments as a founding father of our nation?

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Dimmi con chi vai e ti dirò chi sei.