Terme and Euganean Hills

Villa Buzzaccarini dates back to the mid-1500s, a manor house-castle of the noble Padovan family of Buzzaccarini.

It is surrounded by a large park of over 30 thousand square meters, a perfect place to host various activities: Training Courses, Photo and Film Sets, Sports and Recreational Events.

The interior of the villa consists of various halls: The noble floor, entirely frescoed, the central hall, and four side rooms. The frescoes depict landscapes, villages, countryside, putti, and auspicious symbols.

Today, in addition to being a private residence, the Villa is designated for hospitality for weddings, conferences, study seminars, and television shoots, under the name "Borgo Buzzaccarini."

Villa Draghi was built on a pre-existing 17th-century building as a private villa, demolished to construct the current complex in 1848, featuring the villa-castle style spread over two floors and a basement. Over time, it lost valuable decorative elements, fixtures, and statues due to neglect and the lack of care from the Municipality that was supposed to safeguard them.

The Park and the Villa are located on the slope of one of the hundred hills that characterize the Euganean Hills, 10 km from Padua and 40 km from Venice. The rustic annexes are found at the foot of Monte Alto and at the entrance gate of the Euganean Hills Regional Park.

Patches of woodland surround small clearings crossed by paths that offer a variety of perspective effects along the way: scenes with wide views alternate with brief glimpses that open and close among trees, meadows, and bushes with changing rapidity.

The Villa is situated at the top of a hill, from which one can enjoy a splendid view of the natural amphitheater of the plain dotted with inhabited areas, watercourses, thermal springs, and agricultural land. This view is made possible by the visual permeability of the area in front, which is currently free of buildings and visual barriers. Behind the Villa, the mountain continues its ascent, providing a backdrop.

The Villa Draghi complex is publicly owned by the Municipality of Montegrotto Terme, which acquired it from the Jesuits of Venice in 1972. The Jesuits had received it as a donation from Giovannina Draghi (the last private owner since 1962, after whom it is named).

The first news about the complex that today is called Villa Benvenuti dates back to the early 16th century, when the Venetian patron Alvise Cornaro inherited from his uncle Alvise Angeglieri the estate on the hill overlooking Este. Cornaro decided not only to create a building but also to work on the garden to establish an open-air theater in the Greek style.

He entrusted the task to the Veronese architect Gian Maria Falconetto, of whose intervention the triumphal arch remains.

At the beginning of the 1700s, the property passed to the Farsetti family. The enlargement of what was Cornaro's small building into a form similar to the current one is probably due to the Farsetti.

The arrangement of the Park in its current forms was initiated in the mid-1800s by Adolfo Benvenuti: it is likely that he entrusted the task to Giuseppe Jappelli. In addition to the park, the intervention also involved the pine forest above, which constitutes a peculiar profile of the city of Este.

Excellences of the villa: Triumphal arch attributed to Falconetto; Park whose architecture is attributed to Giuseppe Jappelli Villa, greenhouse, and stables.