Along the verdant Brenta Canal, between the 16th and 18th centuries the Venetian nobility had sumptuous mansions, palaces and villas built as holiday homes so they could rest from the hectic life of Venice. Magnificent buildings, locks, movable bridges and green bends of the Naviglio characterize this waterway... We will follow the historical route of the Venetian burchielli - traditional boats - in the 1700s, skirting villages and summer residences of the Venetian nobility. Originally, the burchielli connected Venice to Padua and were mainly used by Venetian nobles to travel to their mainland estates. On their way through the lagoon they traveled pushed by the wind or oars, while along the Brenta Riviera they were pulled along the banks by men, oxen or horses.
PROGRAM
Boarding and departure from Dolo. Meeting point at the wharf in Dolo (Via Fondamenta, corner of Via Mazzini, nearby Piazza Cantiere).
The bustling village of Dolo from which our water route begins is known for its ancient watermills and the "Squero," an old shipyard where boats were once repaired. After passing the Dolo sluice gate and Mira sluice gate, veritable water elevators, we cross the oldest stretch of the Riviera del Brenta, full of sumptuous villas and flower gardens with centuries-old trees.
During the tour, a stop is planned in Mira to visit Barchessa di Villa Valmarana. The villa, overlooking the right bank of the Brenta Canal, is a seventeenth-century building that was remodeled in the eighteenth century. While originally the barchesse were simple buildings used for agricultural purposes, eighteenth-century interventions converted them into guest quarters, to provide hospitality for holiday-related festivities, acquiring fine architectural lines inspired by Giorgio Massari. The interiors of the barchessa are embellished with frescoes by Michelangelo Schiavoni and the scope of Giuseppe Angeli. The building's exterior features a wide and high portico made solemn by Tuscan columns and adorned with statues related to mythology. In the garden facing the waterway, the rich vegetation forms a kind of labyrinth of yews and boxwoods, with escape routes along which children once loved to chase each other.
Navigation continues to Malcontenta, among villas, riparian villages and swing bridges with illustrations of numerous Venetian villas seen from the river.
We will reach Villa Foscari, one of the most beautiful villas designed by Andrea Palladio in the mid-1500s in Malcontenta for the brothers Nicolò and Alvise Foscari. The villa stands on a high plinth that lends magnificence to the building, raised on a podium like an ancient temple; it is a particularly effective demonstration of Palladio's mastery of achieving monumental effects using poor materials. The main floor of the villa is decorated with a grand cycle of frescoes by Gian Battista Zelotti (a partner, in many other works, with Paolo Veronese) with themes taken mainly from Ovid's Metamorphoses.
Disembarkation and tour of the villa and subsequent transfer by private bus to the point of departure.
Return to Dolo and end of the tour.
Duration of the tour: about 4 hours
