Andrea Palladio, November 30, 1508–August 19, 1580, was an Italian architect born Andrea di Pietro della Gondola in Padua. He trained as a stonecutter in Vicenza and came under the patronage of the humanist Giangiorgio Trissino, who helped shape his education and gave him the name Palladio.

Palladio studied ancient Roman architecture during several visits to Rome and developed a distinctive classical language for villas, palaces, civic buildings, and churches in Vicenza and the Veneto. His principal works include the Basilica Palladiana, Villa Almerico Capra (La Rotonda), Villa Barbaro, San Giorgio Maggiore, and the Church of the Redeemer. In 1570 he published I Quattro Libri dell’Architettura (The Four Books of Architecture).

Palladio died in 1580, probably at Maser. His buildings and published designs shaped Palladianism across Europe and North America and remain central to the study of Renaissance architecture.