A web of pathways, boxwood hedges and vases of citrus plants frames the neighbouring countryside and the villa, one of Palladio’s masterpieces that together with other Palladian villas has been named UNESCO World Heritage Site.

The “building belonging to the Magnificent Signor Leonardo Emo” in Fanzolo, mentioned by Palladio in the Quattro Libri dell’Architettura (The Four Books of Architecture, 1570) as a “very pretty and delightful” site, dates to the years between 1556 and 1559 and was completed before 1570. It remained property of the Elmo family until 2004. The complex lies on the plain at the foot of the Feltrine Prealps, between the Brenta and Piave rivers; the area was crossed by the Via Postumia and bears traces of Roman Centuriation. The villa, too, is oriented according to this pattern: in keeping with the cardodecumanuslayout, the villa is the fulcrum of a wide landscape based on geometries and intersections, defining a unitary complex of extraordinary value. Another axis, orthogonal to the north-south axis, aligns the “barchesse” rural outbuildings. All four sides of the villa, in particular its loggia, afford sweeping views over the vast surrounding plain. The garden, characterised by large geometric garden beds bordered by topiary hedges and avenues lined with statues, underwent changes and a thorough restructuring with Antonio Caregaro Negrin’s 1868 plan, that was partially carried out readjusting the outdoor space to the landscape style trend, with the introduction of new tree species, such as large cedar trees. A long row of hornbeams underlines the importance of the east-west axis marked by two imposing columns.

Highlights