Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Sights
Villa Foscari
(
HISTORIC BUILDING
041 520 39 66;
www.lamalcontenta.com
; Via dei Turisti 9, Malcontenta; adult/student €10/8;
9am-
noon Tue & Sat, closed Nov-Apr)
The most romantic Brenta villa, the Palladio-designed
1555-60 Villa Foscari got its nickname La Malcontenta from a grand dame of the Foscari
clan who was reputedly exiled here for cheating on her husband - though these bright,
highly sociable salons hardly constitute a punishment. The villa was abandoned for years,
but Giovanni Zelotti's frescoes have now been restored to daydream-inducing splendour.
Villa Widmann
Rezzonico Foscari
( 041 560 06 90; Via Nazionale 420, Mira; adult/student €5/4; 10am-5pm Tue-Sun May-Sep,
10am-5pm Sat & Sun Nov-Feb)
To appreciate both gardening and Venetian-style social engin-
eering, stop just west of Oriago at Villa Widmann Rezzonico Foscari. Originally owned
by Persian-Venetian nobility, the 18th-century villa captures the Brenta's last days of ro-
coco decadence, with Murano sea-monster chandeliers and a frescoed grand ballroom
with upper viewing gallery. Head to the gallery to reach the upstairs ladies' gambling par-
lour where, according to local lore, villas were once gambled away in high-stakes games.
HISTORIC BUILDING
Villa Pisani Nazionale
( 049 50 20 74;
www.villapisani.beniculturali.it
; Via Doge Pisani 7, Stra; adult/reduced €7.50/3.75, park
only €4.50/2.25; 9am-7pm Tue-Sun Apr-Sep, to 5pm Nov-Mar)
To keep hard-partying Venetian
nobles in line, Doge Alvise Pisani provided a Versailles-like reminder of who was in
charge. The 1774 Villa Pisani Nazionale is surrounded by huge gardens, a labyrinthine
hedge-maze and pools to reflect the doge's glory. And if the walls of these 114 rooms
could talk, they'd name-drop shamelessly. Here you'll find the bathroom with a tiny
wooden throne used by Napoleon; the sagging bed where new king Vittorio Emanuele II
slept; and, in historical irony, the reception hall where Mussolini and Hitler met in 1934
under Tiepolo's ceiling depicting the
Geniuses of Peace
.
HISTORIC BUILDING
HISTORIC BUILDING
Villa Foscarini Rossi
( 049 980 10 91;
www.villafoscarini.it
; Via Doge Pisani 1/2, Stra; adult/reduced €5/2.50; 9am-1pm
& 2-6pm Mon-Fri, 2.30-6pm Sat & Sun Apr-Oct, 9am-1pm Mon-Fri Nov-Mar)
Well-heeled Venetians
wouldn't have dreamt of decamping to the Brenta without their favourite cobblers, spark-
