The Papadopoli Giol Castle includes: the Castle, the Historical Park, and the Ancient Cellars.
Villa Papadopoli Giol, known as the "Castle," is a palace in English neo-Gothic style, also known as Tudor style, built in the late 19th century by the Papadopoli Counts. The imposing structure of the building immediately catches the observer's eye, while the tall crenellated towers with bow windows, the chimneys masked by pinnacles, and the pointed arches give the impression of being in front of a true medieval castle.

The side of the Castle that faces Piazza Nicolò Papadopoli and the village church is not actually the most important facade (the main entrance indeed faces the park), but it is certainly equally charming. Between the building and the large entrance gate, under tall plane trees, stands the beautiful and large fountain made up of three tiers of basins. The largest, featuring four crouching lions oriented towards the cardinal points, collects the overflowing water which cascades down in jets and sprays from the two upper tiers, supported by a slender central column.

Classic example of a Dominical Villa with a manor house, "Barchessa," and park, of prominent historical and artistic interest: listed in 1761, its current form dates back to the late seventeenth century. The Villa appears severe, softened by elegant triforas, with a gabled roof: having lost its exterior frescoes, it retains an entrance portal made of stone blocks. Mentioned in the late sixteenth century, in his will of 1681 Francesco Agazzi bequeaths it to his male children, who were responsible for the expansion to four floors and the construction of the Barchessa in 1691. Merchants from Bergamasco, the Agazzi family arrived in Venice in the late sixteenth century: the branch of S. Cassiano obtained Original Citizenship in 1593, allied itself with Pope Alexander VIII, and saw Marco Agazzi become Bishop of Ceneda in 1691. The branch of S. Severo acquired the Villa in the mid-seventeenth century, which they maintained until 1807; listed in the Austrian Land Registry of 1841 under the name of Co. Camillo Manfredini, their heir, it came into current ownership in the twentieth century.

Excellences of the villa: Villa Correr Agazzi is a significant example of the political, social, and economic history known as "Civiltà di Villa," promoted and realized by the Serenissima between the sixteenth and eighteenth centuries. The historical and cultural value of Villa Correr Agazzi lies in its preservation of its function as a place designed for the management of the agricultural activities of Venetian noble families following the Serenissima's expansion into the mainland, but also as a site for leisure and cultural enrichment. The Villa is surrounded by a large Ancient Park and embellished by a Barchessa on the left side of the building, two stories high, with exposed beams and cobblestone flooring. Recently, interesting internal decorations dating from the late seventeenth century to the first half of the nineteenth century have been unearthed within the Villa. Notable is the site of an ancient secret passage that led from the Villa to the riverbank of the Livenza, useful for accessing the landing stage but also a providential escape route.

Excellences of the context: Concordia Sagittaria, a Roman city; Remains of the Roman Consular Road Annia which connected Rome to Aquileia; Corbolone, the church of S. Marco with paintings from the sixteenth century; River landscape of the Livenza; riverbank path; Naturalistic trails in the floodplain woods of Bandiziol and Prassaccon; Wine-growing areas (Annone Veneto, Pramaggiore, Lison); wineries of the producers. Portogruaro, a medieval city. Medieval Abbey of Summaga, Caorle, a picturesque town with Venetian influences and a seaside resort.

The Palace of the Magnificent Community of Mel is an elegant building whose construction began in 1510 and is now the seat of the Municipality of Borgo Valbelluna.

Above the roof, a small turret is noticeable, probably painted by Giovanni da Mel or his brother Marco, in which the large clock that was originally located in the bell tower destroyed by lightning in 1756 was placed. The entrance consists of a spacious loggia with semicircular arches and cross vaults supported on the outside by columns with Ionic capitals.

One can observe the sculpted coat of arms of the Zorzi family, counts of Mel from 1422 to 1720, embedded to the right of the entrance door, and the grills of the prisons from which the condemned would hear the sentence being read in the loggia. The loggia was a large hall frescoed by Giovanni da Mel with solid wood stalls, unfortunately lost during a severe fire in 1633. Access to the first floor is via a wide stone staircase leading to the main hall of the Palace facing the square through an artistic pentafora.

It was frescoed by Marco da Mel in 1545, as can be read from the date placed above the trifora in the hall itself. The theme of the frescoes references some scenes from Ludovico Ariosto's Orlando Furioso. On the east-facing wall, opposite the entrance, the fourth canto is taken up and although the fresco is fragmentary, some characters such as the wizard Brunello tied to the tree, the hippogriff, and the castle of Atlante are evident, along with homes, fortified cities, and small horse-riding figures in the background. Above the entrance, the painter is inspired by the thirty-third canto with Astolfo on the hippogriff arriving in Ethiopia to help the king threatened by the harpies, and to the right is the palace with elegant loggias where the king and the court feast.

Majestic decorative bands follow on the wide walls.

On the wall looking towards the Prealps, the portraits of Lucrezia and Costantino Zorzi, counts of Zumelle, painted between the end of the 1500s and the beginning of the 1600s and attributed to Domenico Tintoretto, son of Jacopo, stand out.

On the top floor, the mechanism that regulated the original clock of the tower is visible. Finally, in the council chamber, two paintings by the Zumellese painter Luigi Cima can be admired.

Villa Contarini is located in Piazzola sul Brenta, a few kilometers from Padua and Vicenza, on the remains of an ancient castle built by the Dente family around the year 1000 AC. Acquired by the Carraresi, lords of Padua, it was inherited by a member of the Contarini family.

It is assumed that the initial project was by the architect Palladio.

Until the second half of the seventeenth century the Villa remained a rural residence. It was, in fact, Marco Contarini, Procurator of San Marco, who expanded the building making it similar to a palace and making it an extraordinary "theatrical place". After a long period of abandonment, the complex was purchased by the Camerini family who brought it back to its former glory, completing it according to the taste of nineteenth-century eclecticism. After this the Villa underwent a new period of abandonment until its purchase, in the middle of the last century, by the prof. G.E. Ghirardi and the subsequent transfer to the Foundation named after him.

Since 2005 the Villa has been owned by the Veneto Region, currently engaged in its valorisation. It periodically hosts concerts and cultural events as well as being an ideal place to host public and private conferences, meetings and receptions.

The vast eighteenth-century complex of Villa Balladoro stands in the heart of Povegliano Veronese, enveloped in a captivating historical atmosphere. The villa welcomes visitors with a spacious courtyard leading to the elegant central manor house, beyond which the evocative park unfolds.

The layout features an elegant horseshoe shape, and the façade of the residence - once belonging to the Balladoro family - rises three storeys high, culminating in a majestic gable that bears the family coat of arms, flanked by two refined ornamental vases. In the central section, the rusticated portal and the upper opening with its arched pediment draw the eye, while two side plaques commemorate the distinguished guests who once stayed in the villa.

Highlights of the villa: The interiors feature frescoes on the ground and first floors, as well as in the park’s exedra. The villa includes a 23,700-square-metre park with centuries-old trees, statues, and a fountain. Inside the villa are the Archaeological Museum and the Historical Library of Povegliano Veronese. Moreover, the municipal public library is located on the first floor.

Pojega Garden: a green masterpiece combining art, history and wine in Valpolicella

In the heart of the Valpolicella hills, a few kilometres from Lake Garda, lies one of Europe's most fascinating Italian gardens: the Pojega Garden. Commissioned in 1783 by Count Antonio Rizzardi to the neoclassical architect Luigi Trezza, it is famous for its Teatro di Verzura, one of the very few still existing in Italy. A timeless place, where sculpted hedges, paths, statues and panoramic terraces alternate elegantly between classical geometries and breathtaking views of the vineyards. After extensive restoration, the Garden has reopened to the public with a new accessible route and multilingual audio guide, offering visitors an immersive experience of nature, architecture and silence.

Wine and beauty in a single experience

The Pojega Garden is an integral part of the historic Negrar di Valpolicella estate of the Guerrieri Rizzardi family, winegrowers since 1649. At the end of the visit, you can enjoy a glass of wine at the wine shop overlooking the 17th-century courtyard, or choose from a range of tastings that combine the great classics of Valpolicella – such as Amarone and Ripasso – to discover a unique territory.

An award-winning and renowned garden

The Pojega Garden is a member of the Grandi Giardini Italiani circuit, the network of the most important gardens open to visitors in Italy, and is one of the most evocative stops on the Veneto wine tourism trail. Guerrieri Rizzardi is also the winner of the Best of Wine Tourism award in the Architecture and Landscape category, for its ability to combine wine-making tradition with the cultural and landscape enhancement of the area.

An ideal stop for those seeking a break of beauty and tranquillity between Lake Garda and Verona, immersed in a landscape that tells over two centuries of history.

The current villa was built in 1776 by Carlo Maffei and the architect Pellesina. The construction is defined as elegant and was completed in the early 1800s. It has frescoes by Andrea Porta from 1786 that depict landscapes of the village. In front, there is a garden with a centuries-old magnolia and a small park to the north of the villa.

The main body, with a rectangular plan, raised on three floors, has the main façade facing south. This is divided by seven axes of openings, with the central one on the ground floor featuring an arched portal framed by two Tuscan pillars.

The west side of the villa extends into a wing where the noble floor is marked by a loggia (partially enclosed today) with three arches featuring rustic stonework on the arches and supporting pillars, connected by a stone balustrade. This section is perpendicular to a fragment of an unfinished wing, adjacent to the barchessa with an arcade on rusticated pillars. The barchessa is then completed by a pigeon tower, beyond which there are other rustic buildings of lesser interest.

The rear façade of the villa, facing north over the small park, shows similar characteristics to the main façade, but lacks the loggia in the adjacent body.

The interior of the villa features the traditional tripartite layout with a connecting hall. The one on the ground floor is decorated with architectural quadratures that, in the four large panels of the long walls and in the four over-doors, enclose frescoed landscapes by Andrea Porta, dated 1786.

The patrons of the renovation of the complex in the early 18th century were the Maffei counts, who were succeeded by the Bevilacquas, proponents of other works, and then by other families.

The villa has been the municipal seat since 1991.