Belluno

Expanded and partially transformed in the 19th century, it overlooks a terraced garden, enclosed by a small rustic building, connected to the main house by an arched portal. The chapel is now separated from the complex by the road. The thickness of some load-bearing walls and the very irregular shape of the outer wall to the north suggest the ancient presence of a pre-existing structure, possibly part of the fortified system mentioned in local chronicles.

The villa hosts tourist apartments and is open to visits by reservation.

The 19th-century  country villa of the Azzoni Avogadro family dominates from the top of a hill, surrounded by woods and cultivated fields.

Villa di Modolo is one of the 15 major villas in the province of Belluno and is included in the catalog of the one hundred Venetian villas by Antonio Canova.

A short distance from the center of Belluno, immersed in greenery, Villa Miari Fulcis is a true architectural gem that deserves a visit to be combined perhaps with a walk along the beautiful Modolo ring.

One arrives at a small square where the family chapel dedicated to San Lorenzo stands. Passing through the eighteenth-century gate, one enters the garden, meets the old stables, and finally the Villa di Modolo, a grand construction from the early 1800s designed by architect Andrea Miari.

The central body, decorated with Ionic and Corinthian semi-columns, extends into a wing to which another lower building is attached: the Barchessa, with a porch on the ground floor and cellars below where the date 1644 is still legible.

It was built in the eighteenth century, but the appearance you will see today is the result of changes made in the nineteenth century that affected both the villa and the old stables that flank it. Entering the halls on the first floor, admire the decorations and frescoes that embellish the walls. Unfortunately, these are only part of the entire decorative apparatus that was destroyed during the two world wars.                                                                                          Descending the large staircase, return outside, look for the coat of arms of the Miari family accompanied by the date 1806, and let your gaze wander over the beautiful garden  and the baroque railing beside the building, which encloses and protects this elegant villa.

The complex represents one of the major examples of villas perfectly integrated into the great tradition of the most significant Venetian models.

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.

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.