3 Venetian villas to be visited along the Brenta River: a river of art!
The Brenta Riviera follows the Brenta river from the town of Stra to Fusina, close to Venice Lagoon.
The Venetian aristocracy used to have their summer villas built alongside the Brenta River, a natural extension of the Grand Canal.
An extraordinary historical, cultural and artistic setting where the harmonious connection between architecture and landscape is still considerable.
Palladio, Tiepolo, Canaletto, Goldoni, Goethe, Byron, Jappelli and many other illustrious artists have sang, played, painted and contributed with their art to the beauty and originality of this land.
The 200 and more venetians villas, facing the Brenta River, surrounded by their majestic parks are today an interesting set for guided tours, exhibitions and international events.
We have selected 3 villas that we invite you to visit to immerse yourself in an atmosphere of the past times and to live like ancient Venetian lords for a whole day!
Villa Pisani
Villa Pisani, also named "The Nazionale", is certainly one of the most famous examples of Venetian Villa along the Brenta banks.
It is situated in the municipality of Stra, in the province of Venice and it develops on bend in the river Brenta, extending on a surface of 11 hectares and an external perimeter of 1500 meters. Its construction started in 1721 commissioned by the noble Venetian family Pisani from Santo Stefano.
At the beginning Villa Pisani counted 114 rooms (today 168, you can visit 30), as homage to the 114th Doge of Venice, Alvise Pisani. The monumentality of the villa made it the perfect residence and location for meetings between monarchs, heads of state and government.
It became Napoleone Bonaparte’s property and it was here that, in 1934 Mussolini and Hitler met officially for the first time.
The park of Villa Pisani has been awarded in the 2008 as “the most beautiful park in Italy” The park offers incredible scenarios, original architectures, green houses and the famous labyrinth which is also called “The Labyrinth of Love”, is one of the biggest in Europe and it is formed by 9 circles of hedges, that you can freely walk through.
Via Venezia, Stra (VE)
Villa Widmann
Villa Sceriman, Foscari Widmann-Rezzonico is located in the municipality of Mira along the Riviera del Brenta.
The Province of Venice is the current owner of this spectacular villa which houses exhibitions as well as cultural and social events.
The complex consists of the main mansion with garden and the contiguous court, the country house, the little church, the huge park extending to the north with the greenhouse construction, embellished with 18th century statues, numerous different species of trees and birds and a little lake.
Via Nazionale 420, Mira (VE)
Villa Foscari, La Malcontenta
Villa Foscari known as “La Malcontenta” is the only one built by the famous architect Palladio along the Riviera del Brenta.
It’s situated in the municipality of Malcontenta, near Mira and it still preserves the original architecture facing the waters of the Brenta River.
In 1993 it was listed by UNESCO as a world heritage site.
The villa, as a choice of its owners, has still no electrical service.
Via dei Turisti, 9, - Malcontenta di Mira (VE)
You can visit the villas by your own or by booking a guided mini-cruise on the Burchiello, which was the typical Venetian barge, used by the richest classes of Venice to reach the city from their villas in the countryside.
As it used to do in the past, nowadays the Burchiello operates as a scheduled touristic service along the Riviera del Brenta, from Padua to Venice or vice-versa; it slowly cruises the Brenta waters while tourist guides on board tell about the history, the culture and the art of the Villas that rise along the Brenta.