A loggia is a roofed gallery attached to the façade of a structure and opened to a garden or other exterior space. The openings are normally achieved through the use of arches supported by columns, as in the Ospedale degli Innocenti in Florence (1419-1424) designed by Filippo Brunelleschi and the Loggetta in Venice (beg. 1538) by Jacopo Sansovino. Loggie are sometimes decorated with frescoes, as in the Villa Carducci in Legnaia (1448) rendered by Andrea del Castagno with images of illustrious men and women, and in the Villa Farnesina decorated with mythologies by Baldassare Peruzzi, Raphael, and Sebastiano del Piombo (1513-1518).
Historical dictionary of Renaissance art. Lilian H. Zirpolo. 2008.