Girolamo Frigimelica (architect) and Giovanni Gloria and/or Sante Benato (model makers), Model for the Villa Pisani, Stra, c. 1716, Musei Civici Veneziani, Museo Correr, Venice

During the baroque period, nobles, merchants, and financiers shared a new enthusiasm for building private residences. The urban palaces and country villas that they commissioned reveal a wide range of national and regional variations. Townhouses developed into multi-storied structures with elaborate interior decorations, particularly during the eighteenth century. Country villas continued a tradition established in the Italian Renaissance of integrating buildings and gardens with the natural landscape. Intended as places of leisure, such residences were often surrounded by extensive gardens. The design for an entire landscape was often illustrated with large scale models, while smaller models were made for individual garden buildings, such as pavilions and towers.