A portico is a large covered area at the entrance to a building, with pillars supporting the roof. Colonnaded porch or entrance to a structure, or a covered walkway supported by regularly spaced columns. The portico is a principal feature of Greek temple architecture and thus a prominent element in Roman and all subsequent Classically inspired structures
centrepiece of a house or a church with classical detached or attached columns and a pediment A portico is called prostyle or in antis according to whether it projects from or recedes into a building In a portico in antis the columns range with the side walls
literally, porch: an architectural design used widely by Palladio and his followers, which consists of a colonnade supporting a pedimented roof of varying depth