Lessico palladiano nel Levante veneziano: la Retonta sull’isola di Creta

Concerning the spread of Renaissance architecture outside the Italian peninsula, the Greek world provides an interesting field of investigation: here the Renaissance must be observed in the light of the more general phenomenon of post-Byzantine art (15th-17th centuries), which involved Crete as the main centre of production and export of artwork connoted by the close intertwining of Byzantine and Western elements. Venice used urban spaces and architecture for its colonial policy on the island as early as the 13th century, and likewise fostered the grafting of Renaissance lexicon into Cretan architecture: the reproduction of win￾dows, portals and facades inspired by or derived from 16th-century treatises was promoted by the Venetian government as well as by private individuals and religious communities. Such elements can still be seen in numerous buildings. A residential edifice known as Retonta shows particularly significant, since in many respects it is inspired by Palladio’s more popular Rotonda: it proves to be one of the first houses, if not the first known, to have brought the Palladian lexicon into the Stato da Mar. The Retonta is located on the edge of a small village called Kalathenes, and nothing is known about its chronology, its project and its construction site: the only available document is the building itself. Therefore, this paper aims to provide an overview of what we know about the Retonta as well as fresh elements on it, to put forward further research questions about the history of the building and its relation with the Palladian model.