Villa Pisani (Stra)
The Villa Pisani , also called "La Nazionale", is the most magnificent example of Venetian villas on the Brenta Canal ; it is located in Stra , about 8 km from Padua .
history
Due to the trading and real estate activities, the Pisani had come to prosperity in the 14th century. In the 15th century they bought a plot of land on the Padua plain and built a palazzo on Campo Santo Stefano in Venice, today the Benedetto Marcello Conservatory. In 1720 the Venetian nobles Alvise and Almorò Pisani from the house of the Pisani of Santo Stefano commissioned the architect Girolamo Frigimelica with the construction. Of his plans, however, only the park buildings were realized. After Frigimelica's death and Avise Pisani was elected Doge of Venice in 1735 , the further work was entrusted to the young architect Francesco Maria Preti . According to his plans, the main building was completed in 1756 after twenty years of construction.
The villa was bought by Napoleon in 1807 , but he only stayed here once. The saying "Too big for a count, too small for a king" is said to come from him. Later it belonged to the Habsburgs , then to the House of Savoy . It has been an Italian national monument since 1882 . Mussolini and Hitler met here for the first time in 1934 .
Plant and facade
The villa does not follow the type of the Venetian villa, but is a baroque residential palace with four-wing complex and two inner courtyards. The axis of the entire system goes through the main portal. The central elevation of the baroque facade is structured by colossal Corinthian columns, with irregularly reduced intervals in the central section.
Interior
The building was built with 114 rooms to symbolize Avise Pisani's election as the 114th Doge of Venice . In most of them you can still admire the original furnishings. Stucco and frescoes were made by great masters of the era, artists such as Fabio Kanal, Jacopo Guarana, Jacopo Amigoni , Andrea Urbani, Andrea Brustolon, Andrea Celesti and Gaspare Diziani . The two-story ballroom takes up the entire central wing. It contains the grandiose fresco Glory of the House of Pisani , which was painted between 1760 and 1762 as the last work by Giovanni Battista Tiepolo before he moved to Madrid and which represents one of the highlights of Venetian painting of the 18th century. Gathered around the figure of Venezia, the family saw the spread of their fame.
Garden and stables
The original baroque garden was converted into a landscape garden in the 19th century according to the taste of the time . Sculpture groups and numerous buildings are scattered in the park itself, including the exedra , which is designed as a junction of six paths and two spiral external staircases lead to the viewing terrace, the archaeological hill, the ice cellar, an orangery and the magnificent riding stables that in the main axis form a counterweight to the main building. The stables have a four-column porch with a temple gable based on the model of Palladian buildings. To the side of the temple front are curved side wings. The connection between the most varied of building elements to form a capricious architectural capriccio is typical here . In art history, the garden is seen as a forerunner of romantic garden art. The park covers 11 hectares with an outer circumference of 1.5 km.
maze
The maze , whose hedges are made of boxwood , is particularly attractive . It is a trapezoidal system with an inscribed circle. The maze was laid out in 1720/21, originally had a round shape and was expanded at the beginning of the 19th century. In the center there is a turret with a statue of Minerva , the symbol of wisdom, on the viewing platform .
View towards the riding stables
GB Tiepolo, fresco, glory of the house of Pisani (detail)
The reflection pool
Turret in the goal of the hedge maze
Web links
Individual evidence
- ^ Gerda Bödefeld, Berthold Hinz, The Villas in Veneto. DuMont, Cologne 1987, ISBN 3-7701-1838-3 , p. 276
- ^ Villa Pisani
Coordinates: 45 ° 24 ′ 32.4 " N , 12 ° 0 ′ 43.2" E