The Perfect House: A Journey With the Renaissance Master Andrea Palladio - Rilegato

'Rybczynski proves a wonderfully informative and evocative guide to both the elegant rooms of Palladio's villas and the fascinating history of how a humble stonemason from Padua became one of the most influential architects of all time'
Ross King, bestselling author of BRUNELLESCHI'S DOME
'THE PERFECT HOUSE is a pleasant book, part travelogue, part architectural guide' MONTREAL GAZETTE
'The author's observational and writing skills and his enthusiastic respect and affection for his subject add up to an enlightening and interesting book' THE TORONTO SUN
'An unaffected and charming account of one man's journey around Palladio's villas' THE SUNDAY TIMES
"But as a kind of diary - often written on the spot, in the houses - it provides a vivid insight into the mind of Palladio and his clients. It has warmth, and it rings true" THE SUNDAY TIMES
'His clear descriptions of what he sees and his lucid explanations of Palladio's ideas and methods enable the reader to see and understand the essence of this architect's accomplishments even if the reader does not happen to be in Italy looking at a Palladian villa' LOS ANGELES TIMES
'The miracle of Palladianism is its marriage of imposing presence and real intimacy. In a thoughtful and subtly argued book, Rybczynski searches for the secret of the style's success and finds it in Palladio's unswerving pursuit of practical convenience' THE SCOTSMAN
'It manages to be both relaxed and filled with detail...there is pleasure to be had from it simply because of Rybczynki's love of what he is looking at, and his ability to picture it for us within the context of the life of an artist who literally changed the world we live in' THE HERALD (GLASGOW)
'Evocative, compelling, charming, THE PERFECT HOUSE is the perfect travelling companion' NEW YORK TIMES
'this personal quest for Palladio's secrets makes a stimulating and in many ways an original book...THE PERFECT HOUSE has a lot to offer those who have already had the privilege of studying the villas: they may find, as I did, that they understand Palladio better from this author's enthusiastic descriptions and disciplined verbal analyses...THE PERFECT HOUSE...does make one think about the architecture of the individual buildings in a way that other books do not. I will certainly carry it with me next time I visit the Veneto' TLS
‘A book that combines a journal of architectural discovery with informal biography to create a convincing portrait of the man’
Guardian, Book of the Week 2/11
'Simple but rewarding...The result is a book that combines a journal of architectural discovery with informal biography to create a convincing portrait of the man' SUNDAY TIMES

Witold Rybczynski is the author of ten books, including Home, City Life, and the national bestseller A Clearing in the Distance, for which he won a Christopher Award and J. Anthony Lukas Prize. He is a regular contributor to The Atlantic Monthly, The New Yorker, The New York Times Magazine, and The New York Review of Books. He teaches at the University of Pennsylvania.