Belluno

Located in the historic center of Mel in Borgo Valbelluna, the Palazzo delle Contesse was built in the 17th century by Adriano del Zotto, a wealthy Venetian merchant. The name "delle Contesse" comes from Adriano's romantic life, as he first married Countess Elisabetta Papadopoli and then Countess Elisabetta Tiepolo, both belonging to the Venetian nobility.

In the 18th century, the palace was purchased by the Contarini family, one of the most important families in Venice. The Contarini family renovated the palace and decorated it with frescoes and antique furniture. In the 19th century, the palace was acquired by the De Marchi family, who used it as a private residence. It later passed to the Municipality of Mel.

The palace is an example of Venetian urban residential architecture, three stories high, with a stone facade and an inner courtyard. Inside, it houses a series of frescoes and decorations, including a fresco by the painter Antonio Bettio depicting the "Victory of Aurora over Night," located in the main hall of the palace, showing the goddess Aurora defeating the goddess Night.

Today, the Palazzo delle Contesse is a cultural center that hosts exhibitions, concerts, and other events. It is also home to the Civic Archaeological Museum of Borgo Valbelluna.

The villa belonged to the noble Pantz Family, counts of probable Bohemian origins documented by the splendid coat of arms featuring an eagle. The current layout of the villa dates back to the 16th century, but the arrangement of an earlier, older construction cannot be ruled out. The main façade is characterized by a large porch that extends across the ground floor and the asymmetrically placed loggia above. The porch is vaulted and defined by columns with Ionic capitals in stone. The loggia on the first floor develops with six full-arch arcades with stone rings and keystone set on monolithic columns with bases resting on a stone cornice-sill. The refinement of the workmanship suggests cultured local craftsmen. The projecting roof beams, made of wood, rest on shaped brackets in local stone. The structure of the eastern portion of the building has been restored with part of the original lime plaster and corner decorations being recovered. In the main hall, characterized by the loggia, which is a clear reference to the Venetian entrance hall, and in the ground floor hall, two large bricked-up fireplaces have been restored. The philological restoration work has allowed the noble dwelling from the 1500s to be returned to its original appearance, which had been concealed by inappropriate interventions and lime repaints. The brolo (land associated with the villa, including outbuildings and a porch), completely enclosed by a stone wall featuring a now-rare entrance marked by a portal with stone jambs and architrave, is undergoing conservative restoration in its original design and rearrangement with appropriate pavements and vegetation.

Villa highlights: The complex of Villa Pantz, its walled brolo, the rare portal, and its outbuildings constitute an “island” within the small center of Lentiai. Still intact, near the square, it has not suffered the effects of the prevailing commercial-tertiary urbanization that besieges the center. The brolo is entirely enclosed by walls made of mixed stone of various sizes and lithological types, assembled with lime mortar. The resulting texture is enhanced by the coloration of the different lithological types. The top is protected by stone slab covers with joints that partly approach on drainage tiles. An entrance archway with stone jambs and frames enhances the entire complex.

Context highlights: The villa and its walled brolo urbanistically define an island adjacent to the main square of Lentiai, a residential center that developed in opposition to the ancient military role of the County of Cesana, adjacent to the bridge over the Piave River in a strategic position for defense and territorial control. Nearby is the Church of Santa Maria Assunta, a construction with a clear Renaissance layout erected at the end of the 1400s and enlarged in 1568. The elegant and majestic interior features three naves divided by airy arcades. In the compartments of the sumptuous wooden ceiling and in the altarpieces, stories of Mary painted by Cesare Vecellio and Palma the Younger can be found, commissioned between 1577 and 1579 by a rich and cultured patron, likely the Bishop of Ceneda, as a probable ex-voto for surviving the plague of 1576.

The villa is open for visits by appointment, as it is a private residence.

The nineteenth-century architectural complex of Villa Buzzati, now Ferrante, and the adjacent rustic villa stands on the summit of a pleasant hill overlooking the valley of the streams Cordevole and Mis, at the foot of the Sospiri mountains protected by the Belluno Dolomites National Park: the Monti del Sole.

"The Mis canal is one of the most romantic and wild places I have ever known. The external signs of progress are minimal, the mountains are extremely steep and rugged, with an exceptional gradient of mystery," to the point of feeling "a solitude comparable to that of deserts": this is how Dino Buzzati, universally known as one of the greatest writers of the twentieth century, described it. The spectacular view enjoyed from the hill where the agricultural-manorial architectural complex stands has given its name to the location: Belvedere. In the historic building and its surroundings, the original settlement type with the clear relationship between Villa and countryside is still legible.

Highlights of the villa: The imposing rustic building, with a gable roof towards the main Villa, testifies to the center of rural life that revolved around the adjacent Venetian Villa: the peasant dwelling with the typical “larin” room, the brick structure for laundry (“liscia”), the arched doors of the warehouse (“tièda”) with the granary above; the rustic part for agricultural use of the stable with a cobbled floor (cogolà) and the four stone columns upon which, on the first floor, opens the large volume of the hayloft. Characteristic is its portico facing south and the passage from east to west that allowed agricultural vehicles to completely cross the building. The rustic annex of Villa Buzzati is now home to the eponymous organic farm “Al Belvedere di Toigo Carla.”

Highlights of the context: The surrounding landscape around the rustic annex of Villa Buzzati-Ferrante is of environmental value: the surrounding greenery, with the alternation of meadows and wooded areas, maintains the rural character of bygone times, returning a magnificent and airy spatiality to the view. The nearby pond enhances the entire context, making it unique in its type.

Built by A. Paolo Tremignòn between 1711 and 1713. It was splendidly finished and adorned with paintings by the Belluno artists Marco and Sebastiano Ricci.

Excellences of the villa: The exceptional value of the villa was the cycle of paintings by Sebastiano and Marco Ricci. Only the scheme and the memory remain in the watercolor by Osvaldo Monti, visible in the civic museum of Belluno.

Excellences of the context: In the immediate vicinity lies the city of Belluno, also rich in artistic and cultural facilities, worthy of a visit.

The park is open for free visits by appointment only.

The Villa is situated on an artificial terrace, supported by high stone walls. The access road to Cart di Sopra runs alongside the walls of the embankment. The morphology of the hill, the terraces, and the enclosing walls, along with the ancient road system, have urbanistically structured the small nucleus of Cart di Sopra. The ridge settlement system, of medieval origin, is still intact and constitutes a landscape unit of strong environmental significance. The loss of agricultural function has favored the conversion of buildings into new residential use, corresponding to a different productive and land structure. The main access occurs from the west, through a portal defined by two rusticated pillars. To the north, the villa faces directly onto the road; a short stone staircase marks the entrance portal. At both ends of the villa, there are two evident bricked-up archways. On the east side, it opened onto a walled garden with an orchard. To the west, the villa is flanked by a porticoed building under which the public road passes. Behind the villa stood the small Church of Santa Maria. The place is mentioned in sixteenth-century notarial deeds as “loco vocato a S. Maria.” The church was visited in 1588 by Bishop Rovellio. On the north façade of the villa, on a frame of the graphite decoration, is engraved the date 1632. However, the date seems to refer to the renovation of a pre-existing structure; in fact, the villa is inserted into a building complex that develops aligned along the ridge of the hill, which includes late Gothic buildings. Proven origins dating back to at least the sixteenth century are supported by a recent archaeological dig that uncovered the Church of Santa Maria. Subterranean walls connect the church with the villa and with the Facino-Pasole house. In the 1700s, the villa belonged to the noble Villabruna family. Ownership is documented in notarial acts from 1723, 1731, and 1815. Until 1887, it was owned by the noble Marsiai heirs of Villabruna.

Excellences of the villa: The villa is an evident seventeenth-century restructuring of an older building. In the central environment, the dimensions of the southern trifora have been modified, and the bifora with a central pilaster to the north has been replaced by a single window. The decorative apparatus represents a fake porticoed architecture where green columns with golden Corinthian capitals support a beam structure. The rhythm of the columns frames areas highlighted by a perimeter band in fake red marble. Within the panels are frescoed knightly scenes, likely inspired by biblical themes. The original main body has a classical distribution scheme with a central hall and two opposed flanking rooms. The doors, bricked up, are located in the middle of the hall and included in the fresco decoration. The landscapes recall the work of Marco da Mel, who frescoed the nearby Pasole house. Some original furnishings (16th and 17th century).

Excellences of the context: The hill of Cart still constitutes an environmental context untouched by the urbanization processes that have affected the plain of the Feltrina valley. The orography, the structure of land ownership, and protective measures have promoted the preservation of an intact agricultural landscape. Historical cartography highlights a linear inhabited nucleus whose layout has remained unchanged over time. The inhabited nucleus has been recorded in the Atlas of Historical Centers compiled by the Region. Scholars agree in evaluating the avenue of Cart as a significant urban-environmental system in which the “villa” and its surroundings organize the territory. The ridge settlement system, typical especially of the hill of Cart di Sopra, is of medieval origin. The ancient sunken road lined with thick hornbeam hedges traverses an extraordinary agricultural landscape, still cultivated.

The villa is visitable by appointment.