 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.
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.
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