Villa Trissino Marzotto

This property was developed around a Roman ruin, but the first vestiges date to 1101. The land was turned into a garden in the fifteenth century, redefined in the eighteenth by Muttoni and completed by Frigimelica and Dal Pozzo, the architect. Many of the trees and the more than 100 statues by Orazio Marinali or his school, or by Giacomo Cassetti and his assistants, date back to the first half of the eighteenth century when the two villas were built: the higher one for the Baston branch of the Trissino family, the lower one for the Riale branch.

The latter was destroyed by fire at the end of the century, reconstructed in a different style, and then burnt down again on the 13th June 1841, after which it was transformed into a ruined castle. The twenty-hectare park is divided into areas of woodland inter- spersed with grassy glades. Groups of trees and specimens, some more than 200 years old, act as connections between the Italian style gardens which surround the villas, enclosing them in an embrace of hedges, flowerbeds, terraces and avenues enriched with topiary plants. The higher villa has an open lawn embellished with statues and encircled by gateways and walls, above which is the ''riding school''.

This leads to a long avenue of cedars culminating in the Muttoni parterre. In front of the lower villa a double stairway leads to the octagonal fountain containing 1,500 m3 of water. The entrance gate is probably by Frigimelica and the many wrought iron gates show the creativity and skill of Venetian artisans in the eighteenth century. The property was bought in 1950 by Count Giannino Marzotto, who restored the upper villa, its appurtenances and the park.