Discover the magnificence of Villa Giovanelli Colonna, a seventeenth-century architectural jewel that is an identity symbol of the area, also reproduced on the municipality's banner. The building, located on the left bank of the Piovego River, was intended to celebrate the Giovanelli family's entry into the Venetian patriciate, originally from Bergamo, which operated in the wool and textile trade.
The sumptuous complex was designed by architect Antonio Domenico Gaspari, a pupil and brilliant continuator of Baldassarre Longhena. The building was built following the post-Palladian style, which can be seen in the monumental pentagonal-shaped pronaos, the tall Corinthian columns with a tympanum adorned with statues, and the majestic staircase added by Massari in 1738, make its exterior impressive and scenic. There are still traces of the Longhena-style Baroque sensibility with renewed compositional cues capable of astonishing the viewer (think, for example, of the twin helical staircases, zenithically lit by lanterns).
Frescos by Giuseppe Angeli are preserved in the first-floor hall. The ceilings of the rooms on the second floor are adorned with canvases framed by stucco. There are also stuccoes and canvases with figures and landscapes on the walls. Unfortunately, the splendid interior frescoes concerning the Loves of Anthony and Cleopatra as well as various mythological scenes were destroyed as they were deemed too mundane when the estate passed to Patriarch Giovanni Giovanelli.
In the second half of the eighteenth century, a few years before the fall of the Serenissima, Federico Maria Giovanelli, elected Patriarch of Venice, granted the estate for use by the Patriarchate and other religious institutions.
With the advent of Napoleon in 1797, the Villa was confiscated, following the fate of so many other ecclesiastical properties.
Book your tickets to explore the elegant frescoed rooms, gardens and numerous works of art that make this historic residence unique. An unforgettable experience that will make you relive the atmosphere and grandeur of a bygone era now restored.
Visit duration: 1 hour
