The Villas of the Venetian Republic: The Gardens of Villa Barbarigo

 

Down at the bottom of a serpentine secondary state road, where a shallow lagoon fronts the striped asphalt, sits an ornate pavilion where once upon a time small craft, negotiating the shallow waters of the Valle di San Eusebio in the volcanic landscape of the Colli Euganei (Eugenean Hills), came to rest to offload their special cargo: VIP guests.

It’s Diana’s Pavilion, the grand entryway into the peace and quiet of Villa Barbarigo in Valsanzibio di Galzignano Terme and it’s stately, fountain-filled, park-like gardens that don’t lack for superlatives. And, it just happens to be our latest stop on the Villas of the Venetian Republic photo-shoot tour.

This was the time back when High Renaissance master builder Andrea Palladio’s clear and sober imprint across La Serenissima begrudgingly gave way to a new idea in architectural design: Baroque and its flair for the dramatic.

And there’s no better place to sample this 17th century, new-kid-on-the-block movement than by taking a stroll around the gardens of Villa Barbarigo, the so-called Versailles of the Colli Euganei.

Located just 15 km south of Padua, the greenery of the Villa Barbarigo, honored as one of Europe’s most beautiful gardens, sprung to life back in 1669 when the villa’s owner, Zuane Francesco Barbarigo, a Venetian nobleman, commissioned Luigi Bernini, the Vatican’s architect-in-residence and fountain builder extraordinaire, to draw up a design and put in place a fairytale-like setting that would turn heads and clearly announce that the Baroque movement had arrived in the Most Serene Republic of Venice.

The gardens meander across 40 acres of terraced land in one of the valleys of the Colli Euganei, divided into well-manicured, thematic parcels and mazes accented by ornate fountains, fish ponds, cascades and streams — 33 water features in all — and 60 life-size statues sprinkled around for good measure.

This quiet-as-a-mouse verdant oasis screams out in muted tone, BAROQUE…LIVES… HERE.

Symbolism abounds around every corner and down every graveled path, as the gardens of the Villa Barbarigo were designed to serve as an allegory of man’s progress towards perfection.

It’s really poetry in motion the moment you step out from underneath Sileno’s Archway and begin to wind your way around and through the 17th century that ends at the spear-tipped, wrought-iron fence fronting the Villa Barbarigo.

There are 22 photogenic stops along the route that are crisscrossed by three main hedge-lined avenues. Best-of-show are Diana’s Pavilion, Rainbow Fountain, Fish Pond of the Winds — complimented by a pair of curious black swans — Fountain of Water Jokes, Stairway of the Sonnet, and the monumental Statue of Time. Is it headless or is that a snake staring back at me? 

For complete ticket, tours and travel information, just logon to the official Villa Barbarigo website by clicking HERE.

My camera batteries now spent, I guess it’s time to pack up the gear and take one last look around at the ornate gardens of the Villa Barbarigo in Valsanzibio. It’s 40 acres of serenity just dripping in Baroque.

Join me again next time when we’ll once again remove the lens caps and take aim at another one of the grand villa estates of the Most Serene Republic of Venice.

Ciao for now.

©The Palladian Traveler

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