| The
villa
During the XII and the XIII Century the castle owners
were the rich and powerful Speronella Dalesmanin and her shameful
son Jacopo da Sant'Andrea, who was even mentioned in Dante's "Inferno"
(Divina Commedia), XIII Canto.
The main building has a double symmetry and two simple and elegant
similar façades, which are enriched by round arch doorways
with original masks. On the ground and on the first floors there
are large central halls that cross the Villa from North to South,
with smaller rooms all around.
As a marble tablet on the northern façade recalls, in 1792
a first restoration of the Villa ended, during which time the
Villa was enlarged with the construction of the "barchessa",
the "barco", the "limonaia" and other smaller
rural buildings.
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The Park, more than three hectares wide, stretches around the
Villa, rich in  ancient
trees and is surrounded by the river Tergola and by canals,  such
as the ancient "Peschiera", that take their water from
the river. Here it is nice to rest under the
shade of the trees and to take a walk in the "brolo"
or along the river edge, enjoying the peace of the countryside
and discovering the various fauna that has settled in the nearby
60 hectares farm.
In the small vegetable garden and orchard, the guests can freely
pick greens and fruit in season.
After the last careful restoration, ending in 1997, Villa Dalesmanin
gives hospitality in four comfortable apartments, all nestling
in this charming atmosphere and with views of the large park and
the surrounding countryside.
Itineraries
The good location of La Selva allows the guests to
easily travel all around the Veneto region and further away. The
nearest town is Padova, 12 km, with its medieval squares where
daily markets take place, the Prà della Valle square (the
largest neoclassical square in Europe), the University founded
in 1222, the frescos made by Giotto and Mantegna, the old ghetto,
the S.Antonio and S.Giustina basilicas and much more.
Venice is only 30 km far from here and is reachable in a thirty
minutes trip by car or by train from the nearby railway station
in Dolo; however, it is worth reaching Venice by car, by bike
or by boat along the Riviera del Brenta, that starts just 7 km
away from the Villa. More than fifty villas were built along the
river from the XVICentury to the XVIII Century by the Venetian
nobles, nowadays some of these villas, designed by architects
such as Palladio, Scamozzi, Frigimelica and painted by artists
such as Benedetto Caliari, Jacopo Guarana, the Tiepolos, can be
visited.
About 40 km away there is Vicenza, included in the UNESCO World
Heritage List and famous for the Olimpic Theatre, the town palaces
and the country houses all designed by Palladio, and Treviso,
a medieval town rich in rivers and watermills inside its typical
historical center. Each of them is reachable for a daily visit.
Verona is 85 km away by motorway: inside its Roman Arena there
are many Operas during the summertime and not very far from Verona
there is also the Lake Garda.
As well as the main cities, it is also worth visiting the little
towns: the medieval walled towns of Castelfranco Veneto and Cittadella,
Bassano with its famous wooden bridge, Asolo with the Canova Temple,
the impressive Villa Contarini in Piazzola sul Brenta, towards
north; the walled towns of Este and Montagnana, the Monselice
citadel, the charming Arquà Petrarca, the Poet's village,
the seventeenth-century park of Villa Barbarigo in Valsanzibio,
towards south. All these places are at a distance of about 30
km from La Selva.
If you want to spend a day at the seaside there is Sottomarina,
with the nearby fishermen's town of Chioggia, half an hour away
by car, and Jesolo, about an hour. S.Martino di Castrozza and
Cortina, that are the most attractive places in the Dolomites,
are at a distance of an hour and a half / two hours by car.
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