Palladio did not live to see the facade that he designed go up. The facade was erected by Scamozzi to Palladio's specifications, which adopted and amplified an idea used by humanist, author and artist Leonbattista Alberti at Sant' Andrea in Mantua.
At Sant' Andrea, Alberti used a small facade on a large church. Houses and the [G 05 / campanile] hid it in parts. Palladio took the idea of the small facade on a large church and expanded it into two temples - one low and broad, one tall and slender. However ingenious Palladio's idea, it was used only this once. It was thought that any future adaptation would appear to be mere imitation.
