The first instance in Italy of a multimedia complex. The Cornaro Loggia and Odeo are one of the main monuments of the Renaissance in Padua. Commissioned by one of the greatest patrons of 16th-century Padua, Alvise Cornaro, they were part of a wider complex of buildings and gardens. The complex drew its inspiration from Roman villas on the outskirts of the city. In fact, by following the Renaissance passion for the garden and endowed with a privileged access to the river, as was usual for aristocratic dwellings in Padua, it allows Nature to penetrate the urban texture. Made in stone from Nanto, the Loggia marks a novelty on the Renaissance Venetian scene for the use it was conceived for. Cornaro and Falconetto in fact conceived it as a frons scenae, that is a fixed backdrop for hosting diverse shows, an old-fashioned theatre which would be later theorized by Palladio and Scamozzi. It was made of an elevated base, with a decorated portico and closed by a backdrop. The model was particular: both the audience and the actors were so close that they could mix up. In this setting the biting irony of the plays by Angelo Beolco known as Il Ruzante, a friend and a protégé of Alvise Cornaro, was even stronger: just like the complex mixed Nature and Culture, in the same way Beolco's plays combined heavy humor with subtle investigation, and the everyday language of the people was used for narrative systems stemming from the classic tradition of Plautus and Aristophanes. The choice of classic themes and motives emerges also in the selection of the represented subjects and the decorative patterns: the metope and the triglyphs of the architrave or the winged Victory above the central arch, as well as the statues of Diana, Venus and Apollo on the upper level. The choice of classic themes and motives emerges also in the selection of the represented subjects and the decorative patterns: the metope and the triglyphs of the architrave or the winged Victory above the central arch, as well as the statues of Diana, Venus and Apollo on the upper level. The Odeo was made some years later, in 1530 in order to be devoted to music, to debates and scholarly conversations. The façade features two levels: on the ground floor a central niche is sided by two fake windows, with a Sun-Day allegory on the left and a Moon-Night allegory on the right, while on the upper level there is a vaulted loggiato. The plan is an octagon surrounded by side areas, inspired by the villa of Marco Terenzio Varrone. The vault of the central room of the Odeo is decorated with grottesche on a pale backdrop; this kind of decorations, inspired by the discovery of Nero's Domus Aurea, was widespread in the first half of the 16th century, especially in Rome and Mantua, and this is the first instance in Padua. These frescoes were made by Gualtiero Padovano and they feature some decorative patterns and symbols that are not part of Padua's tradition, but they were nonetheless popular in the 16th century, probably in connection with the practice of alchemy or to the rituals of the peasant world: little angels, satyrs, vases and hooded fortune-tellers. Typical features from Padua as well as the idea that Nature should enter the realization of the complex can be seen in the elements taken from the farming life, with instances of local flora and fauna. The Dutch painter Lambert Sustris decorated the side rooms with wide landscapes, while according to some people the stucchi were made by the sons of Falconetto and by Tiziano Minio, a sculptor who worked in the years between 1534 and 1537. The Odeo was a private dwelling until 1968, and only recently some restoration has re-inserted it in the circuit of the city's monuments. Given the fragility of the decorations and the narrow space, admittance to the complex is allowed only by turns and for small guided groups.