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In the middle of the
1500, many noble Venetian families decided to
build their holiday houses in the most
delightful plains and hills of the Serenissima
territories. Thus begins the history of the
Venetian villas at the same time country houses
and centres of authority.
These villas are more than 4000 (20 of them can
be visited), scattered everywhere: along the
road that goes from Mestre to Treviso (the
Terraglio), along the Brenta river that used to
join
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Venice to Padua (Ville
della Riviera del Brenta), on the hills near Treviso and
Vicenza, and in the Berici and Euganean Hills. Some of
these villas are works of famous architects such as
Palladio (27 Venetian villas by Palladio are on the
UNESCO list, as World Heritage).
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FROM ABANO TERME TO THE
EAST:
THE BRENTA VILLAS
On the Brenta's riverbanks, along the stretch
that joins Venice to Padua, you can admire all
the villas the Venetian nobles built as country
houses from the XV to the XVI century.
They used to be reached directly by boat from
Venice starting from Villa Pisani in Strà, the most known and visited villa of the Riviera.
During its history this magnificent Villa hosted
Doges, Kings and Emperors, while nowadays it is
a National Museum with a lot of art pieces,
first of all the fresco “ Glory of the Pisani’s
family” by Gianbattista Tiepolo. The Villa also
has a big park which covers an area of 11
hectares and contains one of the best preserved
maze in Europe.
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In Strà you can
also visit the Villa Foscarini Rossi home of an
important permanent exhibition of ancient and
contemporary shoes, while going up the Brenta
river in Mira, there are the Villa Widman and
Barchessa Valmarana.
In Gambarare di Oriago, near Mira, stands Villa
Gradenigo the most ancient of the Riviera, while
designed by Palladio and part of the UNESCO’s
World Heritage List, is Villa “La Malcontenta”, which piano nobile is decorated with a fresco
cycle inspired by Ovid “Metamorphoses”.
Nowadays it is possible to visit these villas on
a cruise along the Brenta river from Padua to
St. Mark Square in Venice, all through what once
were the Doge’s territories.
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