Fanzolo, province of Treviso, 50 m/164 feet above sea level. Train stations at Fanzolo or at Castelfranco Veneto 6 km/3.7 miles to the southwest.
This villa can easily be reached by bike (about 22 km/13.7 miles) also from Treviso, taking the road to Falzè-Montebelluna, turning left in Falzè towards Trivignano, as far as Barcòn and then coming to the villa just before the village of Fanzolo.
The villa is located in the middle of a large agricultural estate, recognized for being the first to experiment with the cultivation of maize [corn] in the Veneto. It was built in 1560 and designed by Andrea Palladio for the Venetian patrician Leonardo Emo. The central block is in the form of a Greek temple front and the tympanum [the recessed triangular space forming the center of a pediment. RB] has a high relief of the Emo family crest, similar to that of Villa Barbaro.
Also of interest is the farm village that is now separated from the Villa by the paved road; it is a complex of buildings that housed the peasants who worked on the estate; the project of restoring the village, transforming it into a hotel, is moving ahead, but be forewarned, with appalling slowness due to lack of funds. For now only the eastern arm has been restored.
