Once upon a time, when the Lion of St. Mark roared and everyone listened, the doges and aristocrats of La Serenissima passionately built their sprawling warm-weather estates in the countryside to the delight of the gold ducat-lending merchants of Venice.
When the last column was placed and the final fresco unveiled, there were over 4,300 bespoke villas and country homes peppering the landscape, monumental agricultural centers of architectural fame filled with great art that collectively became known as Cività delle Ville Venete (Civilization of the Venetian Villas).
Today, the general public has a wonderful opportunity to stroll into the past and admire the trappings of those noble families that rose to the very top of society around The Most Serene Republic of Venice, like Villa Molin.
This late 16th century landmark villa, standing proudly in the tiny town of Mandria, just outside Padova in the Veneto Region of northeastern Italy, was the creation of Vincenzo Scamozzi, a disciple of Andrea Palladio, the celebrated “Father of Western Architecture.” Upon the death of the Maestro (Master) in 1580, it was young Scamozzi who rolled up his sleeves and completed two of Palladio’s unfinished capolavori (masterpieces): Villa La Rotondo and the Teatro Olimpico, both in Vicenza.
Filling the giant void left behind by Palladio’s departure, Scamozzi added his own vision to the celebrated neoclassical symmetrical design style and soon became the most sought-after architect of the rich and famous, including Niccolò Molin, a nobleman and an ambassador of the Venetian Republic to Florence and the Court of King James I of England.
Commissioned by Molin, Scamozzi erected, to much fanfare in 1597, the elegant summer residence for the ambassador and his family along the Battaglia Canal, the “river highway” linking Padova with the Euganean Hills for the transport of commerce and people.
The interior of Villa Molin is, in a word, magnificent. The two-story manor house features lucid, continuous-flow, hand-laid Venetian terrazzo flooring; a 12m-high ceiling topped with a stunning fresco-covered cupolo; a four colonnade loggia; an articulated reception space in the form of a Greek cross; double ballrooms; and, an array of vestibules and private rooms that give way to more intimate spaces via a series of cubes and double cubes.
Outside is a well-manicured and spacious Italian garden with its fantastic colors and scents, surrounded by centuries-old trees and accented with ancient statuary, brooks and small foot bridges.
Today, Villa Molin hosts a variety of special events and weddings, and opens its gates for both self and group-guided tours. For complete details, just click here.
Villa Molin, the perfect union of art and nature designed and built by Scamozzi.
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