An other example of
architecture shaped on the personality of the commissioner is offered by the villa that Palladio designed for the Pojana, an ancient and noble family ( plan and elevation from "Quattro Libri"). The building,
realized around 1550 (frescoes in 1563) is mirror of a commissioner of military origin,
tied to the art of the war, also if in part dedicated to the agricultural business. The
Pojana, since Middle Ages, were real lords of that place; afterward Serenissima enfeoffed
them of the territory of Pojana, "cum omnibus juribus et juridictionibus to
castellarium spectantibus".It's, then, liable that the "cavalier" Bonifacio
Pojana has demanded to Palladio a villa that in its composed elegance reminds the
frugality and the austerity of military life. Perhaps, same 
Bonifacio belonged to the
world of aristocrats that associated the cult of the letters to the exercise of the
military art. It's also certified his relationship with the "peditum" captain
Paolo Naldo, without forgetting that two his ancestors, Bonifacio and Giacomo,
"peritissimi ne' fatti della guerra" (as Giacomo Marzari wrote in 1604 ) fought
for Serenissima "con nome di prudenti e valorosi capitani".In this villa Andrea Palladio almost totally gives up decorative details, closes the façade instead of articulates it in an open gallery or in a pronao; he creates a simple, measured and harmonious architecture. Focal point of the façade is the original serliana with five oculi - derived from Roman models across the mediation of Bramante. Also the decoration of the rooms takes back and developes themes tied to the art of war: the bust of Bonifacio Pojana (maybe of Bartolomeo Ridolfi , author of stuccos), dominated by the coat of arms, is in fact surrounded by a band frescoed with military triumphs, while in the ceiling of atrium the allegory of the Fortune, by Giambattista Zelotti, remembers the essential allied for men of war. The Frescoes of inside rooms - by Bernardino India and Anselmo Canera- represent scenes of battle, gigantic emperors, triumphs that recall the military power of Rome, celebrating - as Lionello Puppi wrote - "l'universo mitologico dell'Olimpo e quello eroico degli imperatori".
