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Villa Molin at Mandria

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The site chosen by the Venetian Ambassador, Nicolò Molin at the end of the 18th century for his villa is just a short way from Padua, along the banks of the Battaglia Canal. Read More
Villa Molin at Mandria

Villa Molin: the site chosen by the Venetian Ambassador, Nicolò Molin at the end of the 18th century for his villa is just a short way from Padua, along the banks of the Battaglia Canal in a panoramic position facing the Euganean Hills. The Molin family had various estates in this area from the middle of the 16th century and their main home was situated in their estate in Mandria. This new residence should have been up to their social standing, which is why they decided to entrust the project to Vincenzo Scamozzi, a student of Palladio, who had already designed some important Villas in the suburbs, like Villa Verlato in Vallaverla and Villa Duodo in Monselice. His drawings dated 1597 testify his very mature reflection on Palladio’s work: the villa he designed for Nicolò Molin, which is also illustrated in “Idea of Universal Architecture” which Scamozzi wrote between 1591 and 1615, had a symmetrical layout and the main façade overlooking the canal. As the architect explained in his treatise, the building should have been developed with clear separations between the various areas: the kitchens and service rooms on the ground floor and the master residence on the top floor, where the rooms were laid out around a tall central square space to form four separate and independent apartments in the four corners. The façade over the canal was dominated by a temple motif with the large central columned loggia standing on an ashlar base and surmounted by a gable. The interiors were not decorated until between 1772 and 1777, as part of the restoration work by Antonio Capodilista. The square hall on the middle floor was entirely frescoed with trompe-l’oeil decorations, while the walls in the smaller side halls were stuccoed. The main transformation to the building took place in the 19th century, when the large stairway was built from the ground to the top floor. After the work in the 1950s, which uncovered some of the original frescoes, the villa is now in a good state of conservation.