ABSTRACT
Much of the increase in income that resulted was distributed in favour of merchants, bankers and the nobility who invariably indulged in the conspicuous consumption of new or refurbished buildings. The former church, begun in 1552 and completed in 1601, was designed by Galeazzo Alessi under the patronage of the Sauli family who owned the hill on which it stands. Although the building is decoratively finished inside, the exterior is unadorned and displays very few, if any, of the attributes of High Renaissance architecture. Having gained experience in designing his first palace in Vicenza, the Casa Civena, in 1540, Palladio seized the opportunity to complete the Palazzo Thiene after the death of its initiating architect, Giulio Romano, in 1542. With its densely packed medieval urban fabric, Bologna is not an ideal location for the display of its many palazzi developed in the cinquecento, despite their often ingenious and attractively symmetrical design.
