Estate Capodilista
Sight Seeing and
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Venetia is steeped in history and culture, towns like Padua, Vicenza, Verona, Mantua, Ferrara and, of course, Venice are within easy distance. The numerous Veneto villas, the Villeggiatura, are a real must.

The Venetian Villas

When Venetian maritime trade declined in the course of the 16th century, Patrician families felt compelled to rethink their old principle of "coltivar il mare, lasciar stare la terra" (cultivating the sea, letting the land be) and remembered the hitherto neglected hinterland, the Terraferma. By reclaiming the alluvial land and starting agricultural production, they had a second string to their bow, as it were. But they would not have been the Venetians, had they not as a matter of course transferred their customary civilized lifestyle to the country. This in turn meant that they had magnificent villas built in the style of their urban palaces, but situated in the midst of their agricultural estates.
The most famous of these - La Badoera, La Malcontenta, La Rotonda and the Villa Cornaro Rush, for instance - were designed by Andrea Palladio (1508-1580) who combined the classical proportions of antiquity with the ground plans of the traditional Venetian palaces. Seventeen are the work of Palladio, but on the Brenta Canal north of Padua alone there are 125 villas, many of which evoke his vocabulary. The most outstanding among them are the Contarini Simes and Pisani Villas - both more princely residences than villas in the strict sense. They are all easily accessible from La Montecchia. Many of them are open to the public and you will find further indications in the house.

The remarkable Villa Emo (at Rivella, just near Monselice) can be viewed by appointment. The proprietor of this elegant Palladian-style villa is a cousin of Conte Giordano Emo Capodilista. Accessible on certain days, the ornamental garden is a world of its own. "The average traveller would not dream what marvellous parks and gardens lie hidden behind commonplace castle walls on a country road", as the authoress Tryphosa Bates Batcheller once aptly remarked.

"Here, in the Euganean Hills, I live in complete peace of mind, free from noise, misunderstandings or cares, reading, writing and praising God", wrote Petrarch from Arquà Petrarca - still simply called Arquà at that time - to his brother. That was in 1373. The following year the poet died in his study. The room can be viewed, as can the entire Casa Petrarca with its Renaissance frescos.

The Castello Cataio is situated in the immediate vicinity of La Montecchia. Its builder, Pio Enea Obizzi took part in the siege of Lepanto (1571) in which the Turks were defeated. This explains the somewhat Oriental, fortress-like architecture. The park is magnificent with a pond covered in water lilies, in the shade of massive, centuries-old trees. The castello is open twice weekly.

Only a few kilometres south of the Castello Cataio, in Monselice, lies the Ca' Marcello. Ca' is the Venetians' abbreviation for Casa - an understatement indeed, for this is the heavily fortified castle of Ezzelino III da Romano, a local tyrant in the 13th century. The Ca' Marcello is the only well preserved example of a lordly residence of that era in the Veneto. Remarkable, too, are the six chapels on the Via Sacra alongside the castle hill.

The Euganean Hills

For the most part a fertile plain, the hinterland of Venice does hold some surprises in store: unexpectedly, about 20 km south-west of Padua, a group of solitary cone-shaped hills suddenly rises, the Colli Euganei or Euganean Hills. They have something of volcanic craters about them - a false impression - or of a natural wonder, as if some childish giant had played with damp lumps of earth and had slung them across the land. Some are high and wooded, others no more than mounds, climbed in a couple of minutes. Today the Colli are a protected regional park.

The Spa Abano Terme

Abano Terme was known for its curative waters in Roman days, its mineral-rich water comes subterraneously from the Alps and shoots to the surface at a temperature of 70-80 degrees. Our guests can take advantage of the facilities of one of the best spa hotels in Abano Terme, the Hotel Ritz Terme, specialised in therapeutic (fango, galvanotherapy, lymphatic draining, massages, hot baths and more) as well as wellness and beauty treatments (sauna, steambath, solarium, facials and more). For further information see www.ritz.it.