Villa Contarini is located in Piazzola sul Brenta, a few kilometers from Padua and Vicenza, on the remains of an ancient castle built by the Dente family around the year 1000 AC. Acquired by the Carraresi, lords of Padua, it was inherited by a member of the Contarini family.
It is assumed that the initial project was by the architect Palladio.
Until the second half of the seventeenth century the Villa remained a rural residence. It was, in fact, Marco Contarini, Procurator of San Marco, who expanded the building making it similar to a palace and making it an extraordinary "theatrical place". After a long period of abandonment, the complex was purchased by the Camerini family who brought it back to its former glory, completing it according to the taste of nineteenth-century eclecticism. After this the Villa underwent a new period of abandonment until its purchase, in the middle of the last century, by the prof. G.E. Ghirardi and the subsequent transfer to the Foundation named after him.
Since 2005 the Villa has been owned by the Veneto Region, currently engaged in its valorisation. It periodically hosts concerts and cultural events as well as being an ideal place to host public and private conferences, meetings and receptions.
