Vescovana

Villa Pisani at Vescovana

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Villa Pisani was erected in the first half of the 1500s, commissioned by Cardinal Francesco Pisani, Venetian patrician, bishop of Padova. Read More
Villa Pisani Vescovana

Villa Pisani: the property that was bought by the rich Venetian family Pisani in 1468 near Padua was a feud to all extents, which included the four villages of Solesino, Boara, Stanghella and Vescovana. During the 16th and 17th centuries the area underwent extensive reclamation and land reorganisation work, supplying a constant income to the family. The new parish church and master house were built in Vescovana before 1570 by Francesco Pisani, Bishop of Padua and client for the Bishops’ Villa in Luvigliano, designed by Falconetto and Alvise Cornaro. Between 1500 and 1600 the Vescovana residence was already a vast complex, dominated by the three-storey master house with the long arcaded barchessas to each side. There were various farm buildings and a pigeon tower around the house, as a drawing shows that is kept in the State Archives in Venice. In the large garden and wood, fruit trees and citrus groves were cultivated; the production of limes, lemons, peaches and flowers was a fundamental item in the family income. At the beginning of the 19th century, the decline of Venetian nobility had repercussions on the Vescovana estate, and only the wood continued to be cultivated. The arrival of Evelina Van Millingen, wife of Almorò III Pisani in 1852 brought about a series of changes inside and outside the villa. The villa was fitted with terraces on the piano nobile and rich stuccowork and fresco decorations inside. The garden was completely rearranged, combining English taste to the quality of the Italian garden. In the middle of the 19th century the most original building in the complex was built, the small chapel at the southern edge of the park which was commissioned by Almorò Pisani as a private place for worship and burial; it was designed and constructed in neo-gothic style by the architect Pietro Selvatico Estense and the sculptor Antonio Gradenigo, and consecrated in 1860.