Barchessa di villa Thiene - Barchesse of Villa Fini - Villa Ferramosca - Villa Godi Piovene - Villa Zaguri

Photo gallery

0 - Facade 1 - Panoramic view 2 - Panoramic view from the piazza 3 - Channel and portico 4 - The entry gate 5 - Facade and statue 6 - Windows at the central block 7 - Windows at the west wing 8 - Cycle lane 9 - South portico
Map of the villa and surroundings

Piazzola sul Brenta, province of Padua, altitude 30 m/100 feet above sea level; train station at Padua, 15 km/9 miles to the south.

One of the grandest of the Venetian villas, construction was begun in the middle of the 16th century, perhaps from a design by Andrea Palladio, on behalf of the Venetian patricians Francesco and Paolo Contarini; in 1676 the procurator of San Marco, Marco Contarini, enlarged the house by adding two wings, and then in 1680 the huge piazza surrounded by a semicircular colonnade, but which was never completed. With its huge park the villa has the feel of a small Venetian Versailles.

Latest visit: 2014-06-08

• villevenetenet network of Venetian villas

• Gianfranco Scarpari, Le ville venete, Newton Compton, Roma, 2007. [Villa Contarini pp 219-223].
• Ist.reg. per le ville venete, Le ville venete, Marsilio, Venezia, 1998. [Villa Contarini pp 42-43].
• Paul Van der Ree, Gerrit Smienk, Clemens Steenbergen, Italian Villas and Gardens, Prestel, München, 1993. [Villa Contarini p 246].
• Valeria Bovè, Ville venete, Arsenale, Venezia, 1999. [Villa Contarini, Camerini, Simes pp 52-55].

• F. Monicelli - S. Montagner, Guida alle ville venete, Demetra, Verona, 2000