Veneto Villas
We are staying at Palazzo Rosso Farm near Longare, Vicenza, for 2 weeks. Farm includes a 17th century villa with frescoes. Sadly it needs a lot of money to restore it and the owners are still considering the commercial aspects. Some of the other buildings have been restored and converted to 6 very nice apartments. The converted building used to be partly farm workers' apartments and partly barn. The farm is in the country with vines and other fields all around. There is a modern swimming pool and garden.
Tuesday 29th June we drove over to the far side of Padova to visit 2 villas. Villa Foscari (La Malcontenta) was designed by Andrea Palladio and later decorated internally with frescoes. It is small having only about 7 rooms on the Piano Nobile (the elevated ground floor. It is now owned by the Foscari family, descendents of the original Foscari family who commissioned the villa.
Villa Foscari (La Malcontenta)
Left - Front view facing the river. Right - rear view. main hall inside
Villa Pisani at Stra
Front of Villa Pisani Grand Canal and ornate stable block, Park Entrance, Maze with central building
House & Statuary in park, Coffee house on moated knoll, tunnel through coffee house knoll, Tropical house, interior of quadrant room in stables.
Villa from Stable block, State Bedroom, Stable block and Grand Canal from upstair window
Villa Barbaro at Mase
Wall fresco by Paolo Veronese, La Moglie di Marcantonio Barbaro e Nutrice
We visited Villa Barbaro on Tuesday 6th July. The villa was designed by Andrea Palladio as was the nearby church which functions as family chapel and parish church. The church was shrouded in protective sheeting during the restoration.
Villa Capra at Vicenza (La Rotonda)
We visited Villa Capra on Wednesday 7th July, it being open only on Wednesdays. It was one of the last to be built by Palladio and was only finished after his death. It has provided the inspiration for many other buildings in Western Europe and beyond.
2 views of the villa.