At the same time, as exponents of a well-defined, political faction in the city's aristocracy, they desired a princely palace to emphasise their proper role in the city itself, as the sign of their quasi-seigniorial power. The rich, powerful and sophisticated Thiene brothers belonged to that great Italian nobility which could move with ease among Europe's most important courts they therefore required a domestic stage adequate for the cosmopolitan expectations of their guests who might visit them. In October 1542, Marcantonio and Adriano Thiene began to remodel their 15th century (Quattrocento) family palace in a grandiose project, which would have occupied an entire city block of 54 x 62 metres and faced onto Vicenza's principal artery (today's Corso Palladio). The original Gothic palace was committed by Lodovico Thiene to Lorenzo da Bologna in 1490, with an East front made of bricks squared by angular lesenes worked at "diamond edge", with a portal by Tommaso da Lugano and a triple window ( trifora) made in rose marble. Floor plan and section by Palladio, from I quattro libri dell'architettura, Venice 1570
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