Along with other works by Palladio, the building is conserved as part of the World Heritage Site "City of Vicenza and the Palladian Villas of the Veneto".
Each portico has steps leading up to it, and opens via a small cabinet or corridor to the circular domed central hall.
This and all other rooms were proportioned with mathematical precision according to Palladio's rules of architecture which he published in I quattro libri dell'architettura.
Alessandro, Giovanni Battista Maganza, and Anselmo Canera were commissioned to paint frescoes in the principal salons.
The highlight of the interior is the central, circular hall, surrounded by a balcony and covered by the domed ceiling; it soars the full height of the main house up to the cupola, with walls decorated in trompe-l'œil.
While the house appears to be completely symmetrical, it actually has deviations, designed to allow each façade to complement the surrounding landscape and topography.
[3] A former family owner of the villa was Mario di Valmarana (1929–2010), a former professor of architecture at the University of Virginia.
The film was nominated for several César Awards in 1980 including Best Director, and has generally been praised as one of the finer cinematic adaptations of opera.
Five houses have been built in England based on Palladio's Villa Rotonda: Henbury Hall, Cheshire, is the most recent; Chiswick House, Greater London, and Mereworth Castle, Kent, are protected as listed buildings; Foots Cray Place, Kent, and Nuthall Temple, Nottinghamshire have been demolished.
The "House of Palestine" (Bayt al-Filastin), built at the top of biblical Mount Gerizim, which towers over the Palestinian city of Nablus, north of Jerusalem, closely resembles the Villa Rotonda.
Though James Hoban's Palladian design for what would become known as the White House was selected, the influence of the Villa Rotonda can also be seen at Jefferson's own iconic home of Monticello.