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| Map of the villa and surroundings |
Salzano, province of Venezia, altitude 10 m/33 feet above sea level; Via Roma 166; train station at Salzano-Robegano, on the Venezia-Bassano line, about 2 km/1.2 miles to the northeast. The villa is reachable on bike from nearby Mirano, which is included along the Mirano Mira bike route.
The villa was constructed during the seventeenth century on behalf of the noble Venetian Donà family; it has a simple T-shaped form with a facade of three stories and balconies with tripartite windows at the center. Around the villa there is a vast park with service buildings and two barchesse.
During the middle of the nineteenth century the last branch of the Donà family died off so that the villa changed ownership several times until it was purchased in 1847 by the Paduan banker of Jewish origin, Mosè Vita Jacur; in 1871 his nephew Leone Romanin converted the service buildings at the rear into a silk-spinning mill and the villa became one of the principal centers for the production of silk in the Veneto, until the middle of the twentieth century when the silk industry in Italy was abandoned due to competition by manufacturers in China.
Since 1979 the villa has been owned by the municipality of Salzano, and since 1989 it has been its town hall; the park is therefore normally open to the public.
Latest visit: 2015-10-24