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Mini Suittes Al Giardino, Venezia

Riviera of the Brenta

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Venice: Riviera of the Brenta!

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Itineraries in Venice: the Riviera of Brenta

The spread of the aristocratic villas along the course of the Brenta from Malcontenta to Stra was a phenomenon that was a sign of the power of Venice for a couple of centuries between 1500 and 1700.

It showed the propensity of its ruling class for the most lavish theatricality even in its moment of decline.

So it fell with a blaze of magnificence.

The area was not only chosen for its rural amenities althought they were in any case a fund of resources.

The river had always been a commercial waterway much frequented by day and even by night with the use of torches and lanterns by 'great boats, barges and rowed boats, and any kind of wooden craft' laden to the brim with merchandise.

From the mainland there was flour, legumes, gravel, hay, wines, calves and goats, and from Venice spices, cloths, oils, soap, glass, books and fish.

A cargo as unusual as it was precious was the water of the Brenta; it was transported in waterlight barges for the Venetians whose fields were of saltwater.

Before the Brenta of the villas this was the Brenta of the wayside inns where ir was possible to sup and lodge for the night, there were posting stations and 'locks' as the boats were raised or lowered with the water-level on the way upstream or down.

By the end of 1400, to have a villa on the banks of the river and to enjoy the summer season with friends and relations or Vip strangers was a great status symbol.

Renowned architects and famous painters were engaged, from Palladio to Count Fringimelica, from Scamozzi to Longhena, Zelotti to Giannantonio Pellegrini, Tiepolo, Guarana, and Zais.

A country villa's visula impact, including its lodges and gardens, had to be strong, indeed it had to strike the visitors and travellers by its extraordinary artistic and natural beauty harmoniously merging with the architectural features.

Villa Pisani

An imposing and monumental edifice, Villa Pisani could be deemed without doubt queen of the villas on the banks of the Brenta.

It represents the heights of 18th century architecture when the splendour of the baroque blended with the harmony of classicism on a par with great palaces like Versailles or Caserta.

The construction of the main body began in 1720 on a project by Gerolamo Frigimelica, commissioned by noblemen Alvise and Almorò Pisani.

After Frigimelica's death, the work of building the grandiose complex was entrusted to Francesco Maria Preti, a young architect to whom the villa owes its present aspect.

In the interior, most of the 114 rooms feature their original furnishings and are richly decorated with statues, stuccowork and frescoes commissioned from the great masters of the epoch, artists like Fabio Canal, Jacopo Guarana, Jacopo Amigoni, Andrea Urbani, Andrea Brustolon, Andrea Celesti, Gaspare Diziani, and many others.

Reigning over them all is the name of Gian Battista Tiepolo who, in the ballroom, between 1760 and 1762 realised - together with the quadraturist Giovanni Mengozzi Colonna, his irreplaceable collaborator - one of the masterpieces of 18th century Venetian art, the Glory of the Pisani Family.

The extensive park is a world apart, with groups of sculptures and features such as the coffeehouse, the exedra, the folly, the icehouse, the lemon-house and the stables that mirror the proportions of the main house.

The villa has accommodated many famous guests in the course of its long history, from Napoleon, who became its proprietor in 1807, to Mussolini and Hitler who met here for the first time in 1934.

Here too Gabriele D'Annunzio found the inspiration for the maize scene described in his novel The Fire.

Villa Foscarini Rossi

This was the residence of Marco Foscarini, Procurator of Venice and future Doge, friend of the writer Gaspare Gozzi, author of the celebrated history of the princess Turandot, later set to music by Giacomo Puccini.

The names of the architects who worked on Villa Foscarini-Rossi are truly distinguished.

The complex seems to have been built by Vincenzo Scamozzi in the mid-seventeenth century.

The architect drew his inspiration from projects by Andrea Palladio but the present form dates from alterations carried out in the neo-classical period by Giuseppe Jappelli.

In the Barchessa (the colonnaded grange) in 1652 on the occasion of the marriage of G.B. Foscarini the kaleidoscopic decorations in the grand salon were realised.

The extraordinary perspective paintings were the work of Domenico Bruni (1591-1666) who, satisfied with his achievement, set his unequivocal signature to the cornice.

For the frescoes, the names Pietro Ricchi and Sebastiano Mazzoni have been mentioned, though the most likely attribution would seem to be to Pietro Liberi.

The splendid columns and spectacular architectonic views evoke baroque settings by Handel or Vivaldi.

The scenes show the allegories of War, Peace, and the Arts and Sciences, while Time, Genius and Fame survey the spectator from the ceiling.

The grand salon of the Barchessa (the colonnaded grange) has exceptionally fine acoustics and is used for concerts and receptions.

In the villa, it is possible to visit the Museum of Footwear, the shoe being a highly sought-after item of fashion and symbol of the craftsmanship on the banks of the Brenta.

Villa Alessandri

Once through the gateway defended by statues of Caesar and Alexander, names reminding us of Cesare Alessandri who commissioned them, and having passed under the three arches of the portico, and slipped past the glaring gargoyles on the keystone, and climbed the staircase that leads to the reception rooms of the Foresteria Alessandri (the guest lodge), you sense a strange atmosphere.

The light, the air, the fragrances are no longer those of our day but are those of the chocolate and coffee that quenched the thirst of players in the 18th century who were parched through nervous tension and flowing adrenaline.

In the interior of Barchessa Alessandri, you can admire a cycle of frescoes considered by specialists as one of the keys to the luminous and airy paintings of the mid-18th century.

Giannantonio Pellegrini was the maestro who painted most of the subjects between 1701 and 1708, choosing a light colouring and a flowing brush-stroke.

His merit was to pave the way for Tiepolo's paintings.

In the central salon, subjects depicting Ovid's Metamorphoses surround the visitor.

Apollo pursues Daphne, the Centaur carries off Deianira, Venus weeps on Adonis' inert body, to mention but few of these evocations of Arcadia.

Alongside the door that gives access to the gaming room, you may note a splendid and quite obviously painted glass cupboard filled with coffeepots, coffee cups, small bottles and so on, showing that in the Alessandri home today, as in the past, hospitality is a rule.

The splendid quadratura paintings by Raphael and Marco Ricci complete the setting.

Barchessa Valmarana

On one of the most suggestive and scenic bends in the Brenta stands the architectural complex of Villa Valmarana.

The main part of the great country house, dating from the 16th century, was, alas, demolished in the early 20th century to avoid payment of a wealth tax.

In 1734 the property originally belonging to the Valier family was purchased by the Valmaran family and two L-shaped barchesse (colonnaded wings) were added, both featuring a monumental Venetian window and imposing colonnades.

One wing was used as a grange and the other as guest quarters.

The guest quarters, the only part open to the public, is the most interesting: in point of fact, the interior still displays original furnishings and is richly frescoed by Michelangelo Schiavoni (1712-1772) known as 'Chiozzotto'.

In 1908 the frescoes were plastered over to adapt the barchesse for use as a warehouse, stables, wine cellar and tavern, but were recovered in 1962 through the work of the sculptor Luciano Minguzzi, then proprietor of the villa.

On the ceiling of the central salon, the Glory of the Valmarana Family is depicted in a Tiepolo-like sky and in an original setting amid frolicking and country toil where the figures of Diana, Mars, Apollo and Minerva accompany ladies and ordinary folk who appear magically from the walls to observe the spectator from illusionary balconies.

In the side rooms are pictures of the liberal arts and scene paintings executed in chiaroscuro.

Villa Widmann Rezzonico Foscari

The 18th century traveller who, in the course of his traditional Grand Tour of Italy aboard a private burchio, a typical barge, decided to climb the Brenta from Venice to Padua, could not but help admire one of the jewels of late Venetian baroque, Villa Widmann Rezzonico Foscari and its estate, at a bend in the river.

Commissioned in the early 18th century by the Serimann, Venetian nobles of Persian origin, a half a century was to pass before the great country house assumed its present aspect when the Widmann family bought the property and refurbished it in the French rococo style then much in vogue.

The villa's grand salon has a ceiling reaching to a height of two floors with a suggestive gallery midway, and is completely frescoed in pleasingly light shades that notably add to the luminosity of the room.

The Villa Widmann building complex, following the recent restoration of the Barchessa, now features an auditorium with facilities for meetings, conferences and cultural occasions, and two large exhibition rooms for art displays: this enables the building to be used for a large number of events.

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