Venetian Villas

The Venetian villas are the country houses of the noble Venetian families. Scattered throughout the Veneto region, they represent one of the highest points reached by Venetian culture in four centuries of splendor and since 1994 together with Vicenza they are included in the UNESCO list of World Heritage Sites.

The architecture of Andrea Palladio (1508-1580) is the most famous example of this artistic phenomenon that counts, however, illustrious protagonists like Francesco Muttoni, Michele Sanmicheli, Falconetto, Scamozzi, Antonio Piovene and many others.
Even the countryside and hills of Verona are dotted with extraordinary Venetian villas that you can easily reach starting from the historic center.
From Verona, by car or train, in just over half an hour you can reach Vicenza and the surrounding area, a true museum of open-air architecture.

Ask one of our tour guides to design a tour of the Venetian villas for you to discover some of the most beautiful buildings in the world.

Oncoming Tours

In Provincia

At the Origin of the Venetian Villa

The discovery of the Americas

In 1492, Christopher Columbus reached the American continent. Soon, European navigators were opening up new routes to hitherto unknown worlds that offered enterprising merchants new and unimagined sources of trade and profit. The Mediterranean, on whose routes Venice had founded its immense wealth and power, was destined to lose its importance inexorably.

The Ottoman Empire

The Ottoman Empire made the routes to the Middle East increasingly unsafe. Even the celebrated Battle of Lepanto would not be able to reverse the slow but inexorable decline to which many other factors contributed.

Rediscovering Land

Suddenly, the noble and wealthy Venetian families remembered those territories that the lagoon city had conquered a century earlier in its expansion into the entry of the Veneto. A fertile territory, rich in water and craft activities, and that could become a new source of wealth for a social class headed for a pompous decline.

Life at the Villa

The villas became the fulcrum around which the activities of the surrounding countryside revolved, the center of agricultural production and processing. agricultural production and processing. However, the villas' functionality was soon complemented by a role of representation, a way of showing off the economic and social power of their owners. Venetian families, rich as they were, had until then been limited by the narrow alleys and canals of the lagoon, which did not allow them to expand the size of their residences. Even when the facade was monumental and decorated, the narrow perspective views hardly allowed to express grandeur.

In the Venetian countryside they finally had plenty of space in which to build sumptuous palaces, with large and decorated rooms, finally suited to their rank. The villa became a status symbol and a place to spend moments of relaxation, far from the chaotic, noisy, often smelly city life. In the villa they invited friends and acquaintances, held concerts, dances, plays, drank coffee and chocolate (luxury drinks at the time), and played cards. It was here that the term "villeggiare" (Italian for "going on vacation") was born.

Andrea Palladio...

...and the others

The villa became a real fashion, which spread not only among Venetian families, but also among the noble families of other cities in the Veneto region, often in competition with each other. One architect was not enough for all requests and all tastes. Many people tried their hand at designing villas. The Veronese Michele Sanmicheli, the Scamozzi and many others. They contributed to the creation of that incredible architectural heritage which, spread over the whole of the Veneto region, from Verona to the gates of Venice and beyond to Friuli, constitutes one of the greatest riches of the area.

Touring the Venetian Villas

Visiting the Venetian villas is a unique experience that allows you to experience some of the sensations and feelings that permeated the men who lived there.
Rely on a tourist guide to develop for you thematic, historical, artistic and architectural itineraries and routes that are coherent and allow you to enjoy this priceless heritage to the full.