The loggia, located in the Salvi Garden, rises above the water of the Seriola at the point where the watercourse, coming from the west, bends to the south.
The six-style front of the loggia, which rests on arches supported by robust pillars rising from the riverbed, is punctuated by Tuscan-Doric columns in five archived intermediate columns, the median of which is wider, and is topped by a triangular pediment above the river extends. three central rooms.
At the rear, the loggia has three rooms that connect to the remains of the Scaligera walls. On the west side, closed at the top by a tympanum, the loggia opens laterally to the garden through an arch-shaped opening.
According to what we read on the frieze, the work was made by the will of Leonardo Valmarana and the date of construction would be the year 1592, mentioned in this inscription.
The attribution of the design's authorship to Palladio raises many doubts among scholars, as no documents have survived to testify to this, nor do the times and methods of construction seem to permit such an attribution.
It is certain that work on the garden outside the walls that the Valmarana family wanted began in 1556; in 1563 the small house behind the loggia was registered.
Based on these events, the hypothesis has recently been put forward of an anticipation of the date of construction from the years 1590 to 1560, and its attribution to Paolo Antonio Valmarana, son of Giacomo Valmarana, who had been in favor of opening the garden. ; Paolo Antonio is said to have been inspired by a drawing long believed to be by Palladio, with whom he had a friendship, but in fact by Vincenzo Scamozzi.
The date 1592 on the entablature could therefore refer to the year in which the garden was opened to the public by Leonardo Valmarana.
Even in the absence of certain information about the origins and times of the monument's conception and construction, the loggia still testifies to the early influence that the Palladian teachings exerted on the cultural environment of Vicenza.
Source: Guide to the UNESCO site published by the UNESCO Vicenza Office