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Venice Guide Italy
The Brenta Riviera
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The Brenta Riviera
There is a truly charming, attractive location just a few kilometers from Venice: the Brenta Riviera, a pretty place full of artistic and cultural interest.
In the period running between the 16th and the 18th centuries, some of the most important families from Venice had their summer residences built on the Riviera that runs alongside the Brenta river, a waterway that connects Venice to Padua. The most famous architects and painters of the period, such as Palladio and Tiepolo, were hired to create what was to become the symbol of the aristocratic families grandeur and wealth: the Venetian Villas. Andrea Palladio created a type of architectural building that brought together Classical elements copied from the villas of the Roman Empire era and original characteristics such as the barchessa, a kind of annex that stood alongside the central part of the building.
Our itinerary includes all the most beautiful Venetian villas and can be completed in a one-day, morning to evening trip that will eventually take you back to the hotel in Venice that you have chosen. If you happen to have more time on your hands and you want to take longer visiting these Palladian masterpieces, you can use one of the several hotels on the Brenta Riviera (or a bed & breakfast place) as your base and divide this itinerary into several days.
- Villa Foscari known as “La Malcontenta”
Villa Foscari is the first villa located on the road leading out of Venice. It is near Malcontenta, a small village next to the Lagoon, from which the villa has taken its nickname. This wonderful villa was built by Palladio around the first half of the 18th century for the Foscari brothers, Nicolò and Alvise, who then made it their summer residence. The monumental, grandiose architectural style is a reflection of the ancient power of the Foscari family, which was once one of the most important in Venice. The interiors are decorated by Battista Franco e Gian Battista Zelotti
- Villa Widmann Rezzonico Foscari
This marvelous Villa is in Mira and was built on the wishes of the Scerimann family, an aristocratic Persian family, at the beginning of the 18th century. It was completed some decades later by the Widmann family, in a style that is reminiscent of the French Rococo fashion. The main lounge is a wonderful sight to see, full of frescoes by Giuseppe Angeli, a pupil of Giambattista Piazzetta, and Gerolamo Mengozzi Colonna, who worked with Tiepolo. The Villa is surrounded by huge gardens filled with cypress and horse-chestnut trees, interspersed by several stone statues of gods, nymphs and cupids. A Barchessa and a small church where Elisabetta and Arianna Widmann are buried are also part of the Villa’s buildings.
- Barchessa Alessandri
The Barchessa at Villa Alessandri is located in Mira, right opposite the Brenta river. It is guarded by a gate topped by two huge busts of the Emperors Caesar and Alexander, which were sculpted in honor of the villa’s first owner, Cesare Alessandri.
The Barchessa is the home of a superb series of frescoes that have been attributed to Giannantonio Pellegrini, the person who inspired Tiepolo a few decades later. The remarkable frescoes depict a part of the tale of Ovid’s Metamorphoses, such as the moment when Daphne turns into a tree to escape from Apollo.
- Barchessa Valmarana
The Barchessa Valmarana stands on one of the prettiest sites on the Brenta Riviera, just a short distance from Mira. The Barchessa was originally part of Villa Valmarana, a building from the 16th century whose main structure was demolished at the beginning of the 20th century. The villa’s two external buildings, which were once used as a warehouse and a lodge, survived the demolition. The latter was opened to the public after restoration work which uncovered the wonderful frescoes painted by Michelangelo Schiavoni, also known as “il Chiozzotto”.
- Villa Pisani
This is often thought to be the most magnificent, grandiose building on the Riviera. Villa Pisani is in Stra, about 8 km from Padua. It was built around 1720 in a style that brings together Classical and Baroque elements, producing an effect that is worthy of the palaces in Versailles and Caserta. Visitors to the Villa can still see the original furnishings in the 114 rooms and the magnificent frescoes painted by Gianbattista Tiepolo between 1760 and 1762 in the ballroom. The huge park surrounding the villa is filled with statues and buildings, such as the exedra, the archeological hill, the ice-house, the lemon-house and the stables.
- Villa Foscarini-Rossi
Villa Foscarini-Rossi was built for the Foscarini family around the end of the 16th century by the famous architects Vincenzo Scamozzi, Francesco Contini and Giuseppe Jappelli, who followed a design by Andrea Palladio. The Villa is located in Stra, just a short distance from Villa Pisani. The Villa contains rooms that mingle Classical and Gothic elements, all filled with frescoes by pupils of Jappelli. The Villa also has two permanent exhibitions of the important Brenta shoemaking tradition.
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