Product Description

“Palladian Days is nothing short of wonderful–part adventure, mystery, history, diary, and even cookbook. The Gables’ lively account captures the excitement of their acquisition and restoration of one of the greatest houses in Italy. Beguiled by Palladio and the town of Piombino Dese, they trace the history of the Villa Cornaro and their absorption of Italian life. Bravo!” –Susan R. Stein, Gilder Curator and Vice President of Museum Programs, Monticello

In 1552, in the countryside outside Venice, the great Renaissance architect Andrea Palladio built Villa Cornaro. In 1989, Sally and Carl Gable became its bemused new owners. Called by Town & Country one of the ten most influential buildings in the world, the villa is the centerpiece of the Gables’ enchanting journey into the life of a place that transformed their own. From the villa’s history and its architectural pleasures, to the lives of its former inhabitants, to the charms of the little town that surrounds it, this loving account brings generosity, humor, and a sense of discovery to the story of small-town Italy and its larger national history.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #459866 in Books
• Published on: 2006-06-06
• Released on: 2006-06-06
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 288 pages

From Publishers Weekly
Eighteen of the innovative 16th-century villas by Renaissance architect Andrea Palladio survive today in Italy's Veneto region, and one of them, Villa Cornaro, made it onto Town & Country's list of the world's 10 most important buildings. The sixth family to occupy this country house during its 450-year history, the Gables reside there for half the year (she's on the boards of various educational and musical organizations; he's a lawyer and author of a book on Venetian glass). Sally Gable portrays the villa, the people who live in the surrounding countryside and their fading traditions, which "may be in their last generation." In fluid prose, she recalls the 1987–1988 negotiations that led to the couple's purchase, the previous inhabitants and her research into the history of the palatial house, its 104 frescoes and Palladio himself. Surmounting swarming bees and the usual maintenance problems, the Gables brought grandeur back to the villa, eventually receiving house guests and film crews, hosting dinner parties and staging cultural events. This delightful mix of memoir, travel guide and recipes is, in essence, a twist on these well-worn genres—a very chic, expensive twist at that. Photos. Agent, Kitty Benedict. (July 1)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

From Booklist
An Atlanta couple sets out to buy a second home in New Hampshire and ends up with a villa in the Veneto. Not just any old villa, this is a genuine architectural monument designed by none other than Renaissance architect Andrea Palladio. The columned marvel set down among formal gardens appealed to the Gables as a near-perfect representation of everything they loved about northern Italy. Laden with 104 frescoes, Villa Cornaro needs some updating to make it habitable for twenty-first-century residents, so the Gables go about marshaling the aid of local residents and learning Venetan, the local dialect some distance removed from standard Italian. Having recently banded together to save the villa from turning into a sports palace, local farmers won government backing to preserve the monument and are initially suspicious of the new American owners. Intractable problems lead the villa's owners to a sense of resignation and acceptance of what can't be changed and a deeper appreciation of the beauty that the villa and its gardens offer as a frame for living. Mark Knoblauch
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

Review
“If a vacation in Italy this summer just isn’t going to make the cut, this book might be the next best thing.” –Chicago Tribune

“Timeless and completely modern. . . . Should be enjoyed while dreaming of the Venetian countryside, a tall glass of Prosecco in hand.” –Forbes FYI

“Palladian Days lifts the notion of buying a summer house to dizzying and delightful new heights. Sally and Carl Gable’s fascinating account reads like a fast-paced, marvelously satisfying adventure story.” –John Berendt, author of Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil and The City of Falling Angels

Customer Reviews

Everyone needs their own villa
The introductory remarks set the tone of this book. The Gables were thinking of buying a summer home in the eastern U.S., and ended up with an architecturally significant villa outside of Venice!
Their joys and trials of renovating the villa in a small town with limited BUT ENDEARING craftsmen is wonderful. Sharing their adventures and acceptance in this small town are a joy to anyone who has ever visited the such towns of Italy.The characters are unforgettable, not to mention the honor of living in a Palladian home.
Thanks to the Gables.

Palladian Days
This is an absolutely delightful read - not necessarily an easy one if you don't grasp the intersticies of the Italian names and places, but well worth slogging through. I was loaned this book by a friend and had to purchase a copy to keep!

A Palladian Pleasure
Have you ever wondered what it might be like to live* in a major monument--a building considered one of the ten most important in the history of Western architecture? Sally and Carl Gable, an American couple from Atlanta, Georgia, found out when they purchased Villa Cornaro, an imposing structure built in the 1550's as a summer residence for the Venetian aristocrat Giorgio Cornaro. The architect was Andrea Palladio, whose influence dominated Western architecture for three centuries. About two decades after that purchase, the Gables have written a memoir of their experiences as only the sixth owners of this remarkable place in its more than 450 years of existence, and it's among the best books of its kind that I've ever read.

This isn't another tiresome memoir of the type popularized by the insufferable Frances Mayes--one of those "I'm rich and I own a villa in Italy and you don't" volumes that drips self-congratulation. Obviously, people who can take on the responsibility of a Palladian villa have to be wealthy, and the Gables consider themselves fortunate to own such a treasure, but what comes through so clearly in their memoir is the enormous sense of responsibility they feel toward Villa Cornaro.

They don't see it as a status symbol, a possession to be flaunted. Rather, they see it as "a force of nature," a living entity; they know they're the caretakers of something far more important than themselves. Yes, they enjoy the Villa they inhabit for two months during the spring and another two months during the autumn of each year, but they're also aware that they are entrusted with one of Italy's most precious buildings, and that they have a duty to maintain it and pass it on to their children and grandchildren, just as the original owners did.

A gratifying feature of this book is the account of the Gables' efforts to become a part of the life of the town where the Villa is located--the tiny Veneto hamlet of Piombino Dese. When the Gables first arrived in 1987, hardly anyone there spoke English, and Sally and Carl had only a sketchy knowledge of Italian. They could have isolated themselves, spent only a minimal amount of time with the locals and never bothered to learn the language, which is what many Americans do when they buy property in Italy. Instead, they made themselves part of the community, made friends, involved themselves in local issues, and learned Italian and the Venetan dialect spoken in the region.

And never* do the Gables display the slightest condescension. Rather than treating the local people as potential servants and providers of services (as Frances Mayes does) they regard them as fellow custodians of a property that is a common heritage.

Although neither of the Gables was trained as a scholar, they're both well educated and intelligent people who have made great efforts to learn as much as they can about the Villa--its structural secrets, its place in Palladio's development as an architect, and its relationship to Venetian society in the 16th century. Sally Gable even began doing research on the Cornaro family in the archives of Venice, trying to get a sense of what their lives were like in the 16th century, although she was wise enough to realize that such research, if seriously pursued, could become the work of a lifetime. As a result of their efforts, the Gables become experts on their own property, and can hold their own in the rarified discussions of the eminent scholars who often visit.

The writing is engaging, down-to-earth and seasoned with revealing personal anecdotes, as well as lightened with self-effacing humor. The illustrations are mostly photographs the Gables themselves have taken, and they offer glimpses of the Villa as a lived-in home*, rather than an impersonal historical monument. The book is a joy to read.