Padua

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 garden of the Villa is open to visitors, but the main building of the Villa is not, as it is reserved for various associations that operate in the social sector, such as a nursing home for the elderly. 

The side building, however, houses the Municipal Library.

The Historic Park represents one of the rare examples of a garden that has survived to our time, designed according to scenographic criteria capable of creating panoramic illusions of a particular effect. The so-called English garden, in this case designed by the famous set designer Francesco Bagnara.

Hours of the Historic Park

From May to September: WEDNESDAY - SATURDAY - SUNDAY continuously from 8:00 AM to 8:00 PM. Free entry.

Possibility of guided tours (049 9471066)

The large complex of the villa in Galliera Veneta, located in the immediate vicinity of the town center, is the result of a series of transformations carried out in different eras; however, the origins of the oldest nucleus date back to the 16th century. In 1518, Pietro Capello declared ownership of a manor house with agricultural annexes, a dove tower, a vegetable garden, and an orchard, which was expanded in the following century following the concession by the Republic of Venice to use the water from the Brenta River for the feeding of a canal. At the death of Andrea Capello in 1796, the estate must have been significantly larger, as the estimated inheritance cited not only a manor house but also a barn, a small chapel, stables, other buildings, and a garden with two fish ponds and a small lake. In 1821, the villa was purchased by the Comello family, who were responsible for the arrangement of the garden, which the renowned set designer Francesco Bagnara transformed into an English park, modifying the previous geometric organization of the Renaissance garden by introducing waterways, elevations, and the planting of rare tree species. When, in 1858, the residence and the surrounding lands were purchased by Anna Maria of Savoy, wife of Emperor Ferdinand I of Austria, the architectural structures and the park underwent a new intervention, which was handled by Francesco Bortolami. To the main facade, now facing the main road, a balcony, a pediment, and a small belvedere tower were added, and some renovation works also affected the lateral wings. The new owner, giving the villa its Imperial name, also wanted the construction of a chapel dedicated to the Immaculate Mary, even though the western barn already housed a private oratory. In the second half of the last century, the complex, purchased by INPS, underwent a decisive change in functional destination and was converted into a hospital, while the garden was partly stripped of its original appearance. Today, the exteriors appear to be in fair condition, unlike the interiors, which have been repeatedly transformed in their layout and finishes.

The current complex of Villa Giusti consists of two distinct main buildings, represented by the villa itself and a large structure that encompassed the service dependencies (porter's lodge, stables) and agricultural ones (granary and workshops). There is also a tower dating back to at least the 13th century, heavily restored in the Romantic period, a charming jardin d’hiver in late 19th-century style, and various smaller greenhouses.
The current appearance and structure of the complex are linked to a global restoration carried out in 1875, according to the then-dominant style that tended to conglomerate heterogeneous stylistic elements (including the two towers of distinctly Austrian style flanking the entrance).
The medieval origin of the complex is confirmed by the discovery on an internal wall of a Gothic window (now not visible), and by the powerful brick support columns still present in the cellar.
The villa is surrounded by a large park that extends over an area of about six hectares, personally designed by Count Gerolamo Giusti del Giardino.

Villa Giusti was chosen as the venue for the Armistice negotiations because it was a private house little known to the Austro-Hungarian intelligence services, because it was owned by a Senator of the Kingdom, and because Vittorio Emanuele III of Savoy, King of Italy, had resided there from November 1917 until January 1918, when his General Command was in the process of transferring from the center of Padua to Lispida at the foot of the Euganean Hills, in order to spare the civilian population of the city from the air raids that were already quite heavy at that time (a map of the numerous bombs dropped on Padua is displayed in the Armistice Room).
Previously, the King had used it for diplomatic and political meetings and to coordinate military efforts in his role as Supreme Commander.

The playwright Carlo Goldoni would write of the Baglioni family that they possessed a delightful rural villa called Mazzanzago “and perhaps there is no more pleasant and charming place”.

The property takes its present name from a Bergamo family who first chose this site for their summer retreat. The house then may well have been that built by Antonio Lombardo in 1663; when Antonio Lombardo died, the villa had passed to his brother Alvise, who had it completed (one can see what it looked like in a painting by Luca Carlevarijs). When the place became the property of the Baglioni family, the villa was transformed into an imposing palazzo, but still retained its role as the core of a farming estate.
The decoration of the piano nobile was one of the first fresco commissions undertaken by a very young Giambattista Tiepolo, one of the greatest painters in eighteenth-century Europe. Recounting the myth of Phaeton, the scenes he created marked the emergence of a new language in Venetian painting, which would remain dominant right up to the advent of Neoclassicism. Later in the eighteenth century, Antonio Zucchi decorated the ceilings in the ground-floor rooms: seven fresco tondi and a range of stucco work.

The Villa and Park Miari de Cumani complex, a Villa-Castle with an attached 19th-century Romantic Park, is located to the south of the Province of Padua and the Euganean Hills, immersed in a vast agricultural panorama.

The neo-Gothic and Venetian style Villa-Castle has medieval origins: the first written testimony from the 14th century tells of a tower house, the original settlement of the Cumani family, who still inhabit the villa, having arrived at the estate in the second half of the 13th century. Over the centuries, the villa has transformed from a large agricultural residence to a noble and bourgeois villa: in the 1970s, Antonia Miari de Cumani decided to make ten rooms of the villa accessible, which house numerous relics and memories of the families and personalities who have lived on the estate. Room by room, one discovers the most authentic local history through writer ancestors, war heroes, influential politicians, and astute entrepreneurs, such as Giacomo Miari de Cumani, the first automobile entrepreneur in Italy.


The Park, which covers an area of eight hectares, dates back to 1856, when Osvaldo Torquato Paoletti, a landscape architect from the Jappelli school, was commissioned by Count Felice Miari to design a romantic style park and an English garden, replacing the pre-existing Brolo. Inspired by a medieval legend recounting the abduction of Elena Fontana by the Witch Gilda of the Desert set in 1180, Paoletti created the Miari de Cumani Park. The Park, with its multiple and evocative natural settings amplified or softened by the light, shadows, or weather conditions of the day, is capable of evoking truly extraordinary emotions in the visitor. Inside, immersed in nature, there are also particular architectural structures including a Nymphaeum, a neoclassical temple dedicated to Camillo Benso Conte di Cavour, and a Swiss Cottage. Also present are rare specimens of Taxodium distichum, Fagus sylvatica, and Black Austrian Pine, as well as centuries-old trees.

A masterpiece of the Venetian Renaissance, set in a large park, it houses frescoes by P.Veronese and G. Zelotti, inspired by Ovid's Metamorphoses.

OPEN every first Sunday of the month from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. during the Mercatino
GUIDED TOURS: market day: 11:00 a.m.-3:00 p.m. or by appointment daily, minimum 4 people

Historical notes
The house on which the Roberti family built their palace was built on the ruins of the Macaruffo castle, of which the medieval tower, later used as a colombara, remains.
In the "Palace," the exteriors, loggia, hall, and entrance hall were frescoed by Zelotti, Fasolo, and Paolo Veronese, with depictions of mythological scenes from Ovid's Metamorphoses and with figures representing the Virtues and Giants.
In the recently discovered frescoes on the upper floor of the Villa, there is a curious interplay between the external landscape and the frescoed one.

The Park and the Forest
The Forest, recently restored, thanks to the help of the Municipality of Brugine, can now be visited. Inside there are botanical and dedicated paths for children.
The 1842 Guide to Padua and its Province, points out that the garden of Marquis Domenico de Lazara in Brugine "was among the first in our province to set the example of the gardens that are called English."
In reality, the actual English park must be dated to 1830, that is, when some of the most important Jappellian gardens, such as Treves de' Bonfili in Padua, Cittadella,Vigodarzere in Saonara, and Meneghini in Battaglia Terme, had already been designed and were being built. Much of the original compositional arrangement has disappeared, the extent of the park area and the brolo, in which the greenhouses and fishpond, covered by the hazel grove, still remain.
There are still scattered here and there among the greenery, relics of ancient brick artifacts, two statues of cherubs, and in the middleground area, the tombstone commissioned by Giuseppe Salom.
The special selection of roses, which can be found along the Villa Park and gardens, deserve attention.

The Villa and the Roberti family
Villa Roberti bears witness to the origins and splendor of the Venetian pictorial and architectural Renaissance.
The Roberti family was one of the most influential in Padua because of the prestige of its diplomatic appointments and the enormous wealth accumulated through its activity as bankers.

Around 1544, Canon Girolamo commissioned architect Andrea da Valle to build the monumental complex.
Andrea da Valle, a contemporary of Palladio and Falconetto, famous for his work on Santa Giustina in Prato della Valle and the Cathedral of Padua, finished the work in 1553. At the same time a group of painters from Verona - Zelotti, Fasolo and others - around 1550, was called in to fresco the exterior walls and interior halls of the Villa.

The Maccaruffo Castle Tower
The 14th-century tower along with the well in front of the barchessa are all that remains of the Maccaruffo Castle. Traces of frescoes with the Carraresi emblem are still visible on the tower. In later centuries the tower was used as a colombara, but thanks to recent restoration it has been restored to its original beauty,and is currently used as an apartment.

The barchessa
The barchessa dates back to the late 15th century. Inside there are two large Renaissance fireplaces, the portico cadenced by eight arches rests on columns softened by capitals with the Roberti coat of arms.

The frescoes of the Renaissance
The Fresco Paintings of the halls and exterior walls of the Villa are certainly among the earliest works executed by the Veronese group of artists.
The Roberti family, portrayed in the two scenes of life in the loggia, welcomes the visitor who, through the vestibule of the Grotesques and Landscapes (the Lagoon and the Euganean Hills) enters the sumptuous Salone del Piano Nobile, characterized by its Sansovinian-decorated ceiling. Zelotti, frescoed eight mythological scenes telling of the loves between gods and mortals. The figures of the Giants and Virtues in the superstructures and the episode of Venus and Adonis turn out to be interesting.
On the upper floor we find the Studiolo, decorated by the frescoes Amor sacro and Amor profano executed by Zelotti and Veronese artists.
The faux mesh tapestry, in imitation of a brocaded damask, gold and silver, that decorates the other rooms represents the first example of a series of replicas of the design module that Paolo Veronese would use in painted textiles in his own canvases beginning in 1552.
On the ground floor can be visited the ancient kitchen with the fireplace, and the floor still with the original slope, which was used to drain water, and the well room with the foundations of the medieval castle and cistern.

Ca' Conti is a monumental complex of sixteenth-century origin. Originally a Benedictine station, it became the property of the Conti family in 1580. In 1832, Cristoforo Camerini purchased it and it became part of his properties. At the beginning of the 1900s, it was left, along with the surname, by Giovanni Camerini to Giovanni Rusconi, becoming the residence of the Rusconi Camerini family. Surrounded by a wonderful and romantic Italian-style park, enriched with statues and centuries-old plants, it is a place of great charm, where one can admire splendidly preserved seventeenth-century frescoes and stunning decorations by Giovanni Biasin.

Excellences of the villa: Ca' Conti welcomes its guests in a beautifully preserved courtyard. The imposing threshing floor (aia) made of trachyte is surrounded by the barchessa, stables, and other agricultural annexes, which narrate the story of daily life dedicated to work in the countryside. Among its walls, splendid rural-themed frescoes painted on the occasion of Manfredo Conti's wedding in 1632 and the original furnishings surprise visitors who are struck by the magnificence of the hall that leads to the ancient park. The romantic Italian garden with its statues, icehouses, impressive plants, and pond captivates and fascinates those who visit it.

Excellences of the context: Starting from Ca' Conti, it is possible to visit the beautiful Villa Pisani Bolognesi Scalabrin in Vescovana, Villa Miari de Cumani in Sant'Elena, and the splendid castle of Monselice.