With its power constantly rising, Venice began in the 15th century to value the surrounding territories in order to ensure its food supply, thus enriching the territory of Vicenza; during the course of the century, different types of mansions - from the fort to the farm-villa - appear on the recently conquered mainland, as a logical consequence of the different reasons for the aristocrats to reside in the countryside.

The castle-villa Porto-Colleoni-Thiene is a fruit of this development, being in one part countryside residence, in the other agricultural estate, built in the centre of Thiene, a small town close to Vicenza. From the town one can see the towers with its battlement and chimneys with the typical venetian profile, just like Carpaccio painted them.

Inside the outer wall, one can admire an astonishing architectural ensemble, each of which elements hint at the history of the building, which was erected in the middle of the 15th century on the ruins of the medieval castle.

The Villa in the Veneto has found its most perfect expression in the 16th century with the works of Andrea Palladio (1508-1580). He managed to synthesize the aesthetic and functional requirements in a type of Villa that basically remained the same until the fall of Venice in 1797. But Palladio did not invent the concept of the Villa, he renewed the form these agricultural manor houses had acquired in the previous centuries.

The Villa Porto-Colleoni-Thiene unites the gothic characteristics of the castle with those of a Venetian Palazzo, where a big loggia is flanked by rectangular towers. The very regular structure of the Villa, exceptional for the time, can perhaps be attributed to the great architect Domenico da Venezia the "engineer" of the city of Vicenza where he worked on the Duomo and the Palazzo della Ragione between 1448 and 1453.

The main building consists of a vast atrium in T-form on the ground floor, opened at the front by a loggia with five big arches, sitting on rectangular columns. A corresponding gothic windowfront with five arches, the only example outside of Venice, is worthy of notice on the first floor where the big hall repeats the T-form on the ground floor.

In 1507, Francesco Porto inherits the "castle" of Thiene and its surrounding properties. He starts a series of important alterations and transformations of the Villa: he had the roofline raised - including arched renaissance windows in the towers and filling in the battlement of the main building. He also had two symmetrical stairs in white marble added at the sides of the loggia and had walls built around the gardens and courtyards, which were linked under ground with the surrounding properties.