Before the advent of the great modern metropolises that centralized the creators of “knowledge”, great discoveries often occurred in small towns, in monasteries, or in the cenacles of the most enlightened families.

This is what happened, by a generous twist of fate, in the small Castelfranco Veneto at the end of the 18th century, the last years of Venice’s glories before the arrival of Napoleon, when the cenacle that went down in history as the Circolo Riccatiano would mark the course of world scientific and cultural history.

The more the structure is created with reasonable beautiful simplicity, the more it pleases the eye, which is pleased with what it manages to understand […] the great principle that in elegant studied simplicity lies the difficulty.

(Francesco Maria Preti, Elementi di Architettura)

On the occasion of the 250th anniversary of the death of Francesco Maria Preti (1701-1774), a member of the Schola Riccatiana, the Municipality of Castelfranco Veneto with the curatorship of the architect and scholar Danila Dal Pos and an exceptional scientific committee – Don Paolo Barbisan, Andrea Bellieni, Lavinia Colonna Preti, Stefania Colonna Preti, Fabrizio Malachin, Moira Mascotto – promoted the exhibition “Scholars and Libertines. The Eighteenth Century in the City of Giorgione. Francesco Maria Preti” which recounts the discoveries and art legacy of the 7 scholars who were part of the “Riccati circle”.

So who were these “magnificent seven”, all linked by friendship and/or kinship? They are Giovanni Rizzetti (1675 – 1751) inventor of the Proportional Harmonic Mean, Jacopo Riccati (1709 – 1790) mathematician and initiator of the Schola Riccatiana, his sons Vincenzo (1707 – 1775) and Giordano Riccati (1709 – 1790), and Francesco Maria Preti, their contemporary and the protagonist of the exposition. Francesco Riccati and Luigi Rizzetti will belong to a still later generation.

I conclude, therefore, that the same consonances that delight the ear also delight the vision, architecture will be the music of our eyes, which in fact provides us with the forms capable of producing beauty, and outside of which we would never find it.

(Francesco Maria Preti, letter to architect Tommaso Tamanza)

The exhibition is set up in three locations, that are definitely worth a visit also for their intrinsic beauty, each located a few minutes from the other in the center of Castelfranco Veneto: Teatro Accademico, Museo Casa Giorgione and Palazzo Soranzo Novello.

The first stop of the exhibition is Teatro Accademico, designed by Francesco Maria Preti and built starting from 1754, which was the first Italian theater intended for academic activities and both daytime and nighttime performances. To understand its historical importance, it suffices to say that it was conceived thirty years before the Scala Theatre in Milan and forty-six before the Fenice Theatre, of which it was one of the sources of reflection and inspiration.

Here, in the foyer, on spectacular mirrored walls, the most important projects by Francesco Maria Preti are displayed, including the Dome of Castelfranco, where Preti applied the Harmonic Proportional Average for the first time, Villa Pisani in Stra, known as “the Queen of the Venetian Villas”, and the Hospital of San Giacomo, also in Castelfranco, of which only the Palazzetto Preti was built.

Our walk continues to the Dome, where you can enter to enjoy the architecture, designed by Preti at just 23 years old, conceived according to the Harmonic Proportional Average, a precise harmonic relationships between mathematics, music and architecture aimed at conceiving harmony and, therefore, perfect beauty.

Preti does not limit himself to copying Palladio’s architectural proportions, but takes inspiration from them to make changes and establish new rules.

(Stefania Colonna Preti, descendant and scholar of Francesco Maria Preti)

Developed mathematically by Giovanni Rizzetti, further investigated by his son Jacopo and put into architectural practice by Francesco Maria Preti, the Harmonic Proportional Mean refines the golden ratio of the Classics and Palladio, even serving as inspiration for the White House. The book Elementi di Architettura by Francesco Maria Preti, published posthumously by Giordano Riccati, will in fact be purchased by Thomas Jefferson, himself an architect in love with Italy and Palladio, and a model for his home and for the changes he made to the White House.

The second stop of the exhibition, located in the same square as the Dome, is the Museo Casa Giorgione, where the main scientific discoveries of the Magnificent Seven are set up. From the refutation of Newton’s theory of color (whose key experiment is the one depicted in the Pink Floyd album The Dark Side of the Moon) to the Riccatian equation still used today in all the universities of the world, from the theories on the best form of Italian theater, to the development of music therapy.

Continuing the walk along Via Francesco Maria Preti, up to the Civic Tower, on the right, just outside the medieval walls of the city, lays the third stop of the exhibition, Palazzo Soranzo Novello. Restored by Preti himself according to many historians, on the occasion of the event it opens its main floor to the public for the first time, boasting beautiful rooms and original stuccoes from the 18th century.

Here the refined curator Danila Dal Pos wanted to tell the uses, habits and customs of the 18th century seen through the highest craftsmanship of Castelfranco and the Veneto of the time. Divided into thematic rooms – the Hall of Mirrors, the Studio of the Architect Preti, the Boudoir, the Music Room – we find unique pieces such as the period furniture of Attilio Cecchetto, an antique dealer and the greatest expert in Italy of Venetian furnishings of the 18th century, up to the ceramics of the most important factories of the time such as Cozzi, Antonibon, Rossi-Roberti.

But also a glimpse of the fashion of the time with the fabrics of the Tessitura Luigi Bevilacqua, the original dresses of the Andrea Casotto collection and precious personal accessories, such as snuffboxes and perfume bottles, of the Accorsi-Ometto Foundation, the portraits of the Colonna, Riccati and Preti families, the paintings of the great artists of the eighteenth century such as Diziani, Ricci, Nogari, Amigoni, Carriera, Bella, Cimaroli, etc., the musical instruments, and the high-society rituals of games of chance.

In addition to the exhibition, there are many other “excuses” to organize a weekend in Castelfranco Veneto, from the works of Giorgione, the most mysterious of the Renaissance painters, to the tour of the buildings designed by Francesco Maria Preti, up to the city’s food and wine landmarks (here is a “secrets” itinerary from which to take inspiration).

And every Saturday and Sunday, upon reservation, don’t miss the guided tours of the exhibition with curator Danila Dal Pos, an exceptional narrator and custodian of the most fascinating anecdotes about 18th-century Veneto.

The Secret

Born in 1701 to one of the most noble and ancient families of Castelfranco Veneto, Francesco Maria Preti studied philosophy, mathematics, physics, mathematics, music, and found his greatest delight in architecture, which he interpreted as the “sum” of all the arts. Upon his death without heirs in 1774, he left everything as an inheritance to one of the sons of a nephew by his only sister, Odorico Colonna, with the obligation to add the surname Preti to his own. Since then, the Colonna Preti family has been the only descendants of the famous scholar.

Useful Info

Tickets
Full 10 euro, reduced 7 euro, under 18 1 euro
Exhibition in 3 locations (Teatro Accademico, Museo Casa Giorgione, Palazzo Soranzo Novello). The ticket purchased in one of the locations includes a visit to the other. The section set up at the Teatro Accademico has free admission.
Timetable
Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday from 10 to 13
Friday, Saturday and Sunday from 10 to 18