Villa Cordevigo

It stands in the ancient locality of Cordevigo, formerly a Roman settlement, perhaps as a villa-farm. It is happily located amidst hills verdant with olive groves and vineyards. It is accessed by a shady cypress avenue and a monumental gate surmounted by statues. The villa was rebuilt in the 18th century in elegant but sober forms, over an earlier 15th-16th century building. It consists of a three-storey central body, the façade of which has a beautiful 16th century portal, and laterally of two lower wings: to the left were elegant stables and porticoes, where a spinning mill operated in the 19th century, to the right were cellars and storerooms. A Baroque-style pediment with a coat of arms is located on the eaves line in the centre of the façade. Now all these rooms have been converted into prestigious residences as the villa has become a five-star hotel. To the rear of the palace is a park with springs and century-old trees (including majestic horse chestnuts, yews and poplars) due to the 19th-century evolution of the brolo into a romantic English garden. Part of the villa is the small church of San Martino, a chapel rebuilt in 1543, a veritable relic of saints (mentioned in the chapter on churches). Outside the gate are the workers' houses, near which one notices a portico supported by fine stone columns, an evident reuse of earlier constructions. Other such columns are inserted at the secondary entrance to the courtyard.