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Home , Asolo, Barbaro family, Castelfranco Veneto, Oderzo, Province of Treviso, Treviso

CASTELFRANCO A name telling of the origins of a town The journey goes on to , a little town the people from founded in the 12th century on a pre-existing embankment, next to the medieval village called “Pieve Nova”, by the Roman streets ‘Aurelia’ and ‘Postumia’. The town walls draw an almost square plan with corner towers and four middle towers with doors. It was Ezzelino da Romano who had both the ‘tower of the dead’, which is now the cathedral bell tower, and the tower on top of Gate built. The moat used to be much larger than it is today and there were four bridges to cross it, each corresponding to one of the four doors. Inside the walls the town is regularly laid out like an ancient as if they were embracing it, and they by uncommon loggias and centring Roman grid and divided into what used to create a nothing but military pattern. The or Gothic holes, thus creating an be military quarters; outside the walls the wide and narrow faces of the building amazing scenery in the market square. buildings run all along the fortress, alternate and some of them are enriched When Castelfranco stopped playing 41 a defensive role it became an important is a well-known altar piece by * trading centre, a crucial stop on the trade depicting The Conversion of the Virgin routes between and northern Mary and the SS. George and Francis. Europe. It soon became a free port, and this is how it got its name. Architecture The Academic Theatre 39 was especially stimulated in two periods, It was built on a plan by Preti, not far during the 16th and 17th centuries. In from the cathedral. In Castelfranco at the those years important buildings were beginning of the 18th century there were constructed and Francesco Maria Preti important study and research groups who planned both the cathedral and the gave life to an important Scientific Academy, Academic Theatre. If you pass under whose influence could be felt well outside the watchtower, which was the original Altar piece by Giorgione the town walls. entrance to the town, you can walk to Preti himself was part of the Riccati brothers’ Giorgione’s House 37 and to the near- circle during the Enlightment. by cathedral, the church of Our Lady He was the first one who regularly used the of the Assumption 38 . It stands on the Proportional Harmonic Mean in its works. remains of Saint Liberale’s church, which The theories, canons and principles he used had a 90-degree-rotated three-circular- had already been used by others, but he apses Roman structure and which was was the only one who used harmonic and rebuilt because it was falling into ruin. musical considerations to explain them. The present façade was not built on Preti’s The plan of the Academic Theatre, whose plan: it was started by Riccati and then plates are still kept in the public library, is the changed and finished by Pio Finazzi at the result of the research the artist carried out to The Duomo (Castelfranco Veneto) 42 end of the 19th century. Inside the church answer some functional requirements: the building was to be used both as a theatre and its market, especially the grain market. by night and as a hall for the Scientific An inscription on stone, dated 1586, is Academy’s meetings by day. crucial to understanding the importance of Giovan Battista Canal frescoed the ceilings the grain market in the 16th century: it is by of the theatre in 1780, but, unfortunately, Rector Zorzi Semitercolo and it is meant to towards the middle of the 19th century “protect” grain both in the square and inside the building was turned into a opera the loggia because crops were scarce and house and so some of the parts planned famine was getting closer as a consequence by Preti were torn down and Canal’s of pestilences. frescoes were replaced by works by Sebastaino Santi depicting Immortality Villa Revedin Bolasco 41 crowning important emerging people in Just outside the historical centre, but still Castelfranco. The Academic Theatre (Castelfranco Veneto) in the heart of the town, there is Villa The hall was also enriched with ‘intaglio’ Revedin Bolasco, which has been praised and gilding works, especially the stalls, To the right you will see the romantic for its beauty and its huge public park, so that the building acquired a baroque gardens built on the embankment by the which was once called “Corner’s Paradise”, appearance. A little further, to the left, walls with a statue of Giorgione; to the left before falling into ruin after the death of you can stop and have a quick look at the you can see the beautiful continuous line of garden of the Musical Conservatory. the last heir. It was the Revedin family It is a small green corner by the ancient walls historical buildings and the long arcade. who tidied it up again: several architects with a charm of its own. The Pavejon, or Ancient Loggia ‘of the were asked to rearrange the park trying You can now cross the moat and go out Grains’ 40 stands by its own. not to spoil the picturesque and romantic to the pedestrian path that surrounds the It was built in 1420 when the Venetian character of the ruins, with plants flowers historical centre. Republic was very interested in Castelfranco and waters left to themselves, the ruins 43 Villa Bolasco (Castelfranco Veneto) (Fanzolo)

of Marinali’s statues which had been dug with relieves by Vittoria. up again and arranged in the shape of an Two long rows of poplars marking the amphitheatre with poplars on the background entrances to the villa start from here, Once you leave Castelfranco, head for (the place is called ‘la cavallerizza’). At the one from the main side and one from the Vedelago. end of the 19th century architect Antonio secondary side.

Caregaro Negrin added the last touches: a Beyond the trees the countryside is Villa Emo 42 greenhouse on the island and the ‘Soggetta’ arranged according to the ancient This is one of the most famous works with octagonal plan and pagoda roof. Roman grid and the channels derived by . It is located in from the Seriola Barbarigo, a big channel Fanzolo and it overlooks the surrounding the Emo family was allowed to use. landscape. The stately main body of *Giorgione: well-known painter who lived Such water system probably originates in Castelfranco between 1477 and 1510. the building stands on an elevated and in the Bretella sources, which come out 44 forward position and its façade has a gable in Piederobba, in the piedmont. The ancient aqueduct might have been the work of Frà Giocondo Veronese, the same man who planned Treviso’s defensive walls. Two long ‘barchesse’ stand on the sides of the villa: they have eleven arches each and they look at each other from below the entrance ramp and through the arcades, thus creating a continuous perspective illusion. The frescoes inside the villa were The ’Barchessa’ of Villa Pola Pomini (Barcon) painted by Giambattista Zelotti, a help and a follower of Veronese’s. The ‘Barchessa’ of Villa Pola as building material during the Austrian On the opposite side of the street there Pomini 43 If you follow the same road domination, when the disgraced Pola family is a little rural suburb, some of whose towards Barcon, another small village in had no other way to support themselves. buildings are as ancient as the villa itself. Vedelago’s municipality, you will get to the Masari had the villa built in the 18th The suburb was built around a Sunday ‘Barchessa’ of Villa Pola Pomini, a beautiful century. It must have been very original: house, where farmers and husbandmen building which has recently been heavily a four-storey square-plan building with used to live, which has always been used restored. If you want to see it properly, you so many windows, that it was called also as a farm. will have to pass the high stone-and-brick ‘il palazzo di Barcon dai 365 balcon’ wall. Inside the courtyard there is a square (Barcon’s building with 365 shutters). embankment with trees and shrubs marking It was a stately building in the same Tourist Information the place where the villa used to be. Palladian style as the ‘Rotonda’ in , Villa Emo Tel. +39 0423 476334 It was torn down and the pieces were sold but it is impossible to understand the 45 extent of such influence as there are no extant plans of the building. The ‘barchessa’ is all that remains of such splendour. After the restoration it has been used as brewery, pub, restaurant and convention hall.

Ca’ Corner della Regina 44 Once you got to Vedelago’s centre, take Villa Corner della Regina (Cavasagra) the small road leading to Cavasagra and In the original plan, the composition was you will be able to see Ca’ Corner of the represented the and Queen, a beautiful villa, which is the product symmetrical, with the same layout which she could play a major role in the politics of interventions and restorations carried can now be seen in the right wing of the of the island and the control of the eastern out, probably under ’s building, and the greenhouse connected the Mediterranean. direction, on the 16th-century mansion villa to the ‘barchessa’. The king died one year afterwards before where Caterina Cornaro* used to live. his first heir was born. *Caterina Cornaro: she was the queen of At the beginning of the 18th century and gave her reign to the Venetian Gerolamo III Corner commissioned Giorgio Republic in exchange for the fiefs BADOERE Massari some further interventions; then and Castelfranco. She was the daughter of The ‘Rotonda’ an age-old towards the middle of the century Giovanni Marco Cornaro, a nobleman from Venice, marketplace Corner commissioned others to Francesco and she was brought up in a nunnery Maria Preti. and then married by proxy to Giacomo II It is worth going a little further, towards The latter was entrusted the building of the Lusignano, king of Cyprus and Armenia. , and get to Badoere, where you 46 pronaos with columns and the ‘barchesse’. The marriage had political aims: she will be able to admire the well-known The Barco, a place of pleasures If you go on to Altivole, you will meet Villa Fietta Giacomelli 48, the Tower ‘Colombera’ 49 , Villa Bardellini Zon Titotto 50 and Villa Van Axel 51 . Queen Cornaro’s Barco 52 is in the open countryside, so you will The ‘Rotonda’ (Badoere) need to follow the signs to find it. Market Square which is called Badoere’s when the free markets in Treviso, It is an example of castle-like villa, but ‘Rotonda’ 45 because of the semicircular Castelfranco and were opened. only a small part is extant. arcades which surround it. You can now go back to the main trail and The beautiful mansion built for queen go to Casella di Altivole, where you will find The village got its name from the noble Cornaro at the end of the 15th century Badoer family, whose villa was torn down at Saint Michael’s Church 46 , a work by was composed of a wonderful villa in the beginning of the 20th century. the already mentioned architect Preti. the middle of a fenced estate extending It seems this original composition was The Parsongae, Villa Pisani and Villa over 86 fields and it was completely Angelo Badoer’s idea: he commissioned Pasqualigo are also worth mentioning. a polyfunctional building for houses and Just outside the centre there is the Tower destroyed (or maybe it never existed). shops, suiting the needs of the farmers’ ‘Mozza’ 47 (which means cut off tower), Elaborate gardens surrounded the villa, market. a 10-metre-high tower dating back to the with a well in the middle. The square was the most important 13th century. The ‘barchessa’ had two doors cattle market in the area for centuries: its connecting the gardens to the park, importance waned in the 19th century which was also surrounded by walls and 47 The extant 118-metre-long ‘barchessa’ has been heavily restored, but still carries the signs of the days when farmers used it as storehouse. The beautiful West façade is decorated with geometrical patterns, mythological subjects and hunting scenes, becoming religious images in Giorgione’s style as they get closer to the chapel. Unfortunately, the present surroundings do not allow us to imagine what the original park and garden must have looked like.

Queen Cornaro’s Barco (Altivole) MASER The journey goes on to Maser. where there was every kind of plants and and was eventually used only as holiday On the way, near Coste, you will be trees, a sort of fortified tower surrounded house. able to see an ancient mill and a sacred by water, paths, fields and meadows. By the 18th century the villa had probably aedicule built against the front of After the queen’s death in 1510 the fallen into ruin and so the remains of the another old building. estate, which had already been damaged building, the towers and walls were torn In Maser’s centre you will be able to see 48 by Cambrai troops, began to decline down. Ca’ Nani, a 17th-18th-century villa which The Little Temple (Maser) Villa (Maser) has now become the town hall, the 18th- of the Roman Pantheon and it became Villa di Maser 54 century Parish Church, with paintings both ’s private chapel and The best way to admire attributed to Veronese’s school, and the the village parish church. Two statues is from the ‘exedra’ by the road, just in Little Temple 53 , which is the representing Faith and Charity are to be Redeemer’s Church, a sacred building found at the two sides of the steps; they harmony of the composition become one added to the well-known Villa in Maser, are the works of sculptor Orazio Marinali with the surrounding countryside, as if it one of Andrea Palladio’s architectural from Bassano. The sculptural decoration were an extension. masterpieces. on the gable is ascribed to Vittoria. This is probably one of the best The Redeemer’s Church was built towards examples of the very idea of Venetian the end of the 16th century on the model villas, where buildings, countryside, 49 together. Like in Villa Emo in Fanzolo, it is a long row of trees extending

that marks the entrance, with classical statues decorating the gardens and the fountains. A visit to the interior is highly recommended if you do not want to miss the view over the lands of the estate from the portico, the exedra fountain in the rear and ’s frescoes in the rooms. The latter was extremely good at creating optical illusions and scenes Villa (Maser) where reality is re-created through the If you go back from where you came Then, almost at the crossroad with work, columns and balustrades peopled and go towards Asolo, in Crespignana Asolo’s new ‘Foresto’, you will be able by characters drawn from real life. you will be able to see 17th-century to see the elaborate 16th-century Villa Villa Fabris; the Parish Church where a Rinaldi, which was re-arranged during Tourist Information: Madonna and Child and some paintings the 17th century and which has recently Villa di Maser Tel. +39 0423 923004 by G.B. Canal are kept; the 17th-century been restored. 50 Pigeon Tower in Villa Querini. I.A.T. Calle Opitergium, 5 Tel. +39.0422.815251 - Fax +39.0422.814081 INFORMATION AND e-mail: [email protected] Ideation TOURISME OFFICES I.A.T. Head of Administration Via Liberazione, 133/a Diana Melocco Tel. +39.0438.403213 - Fax +39.0438.403267 Supervision e-mail: [email protected] Elena Bisiol F rancesca Susanna I.A.T. TREVISO I.A.T. Project Planning Piazza Monte di Pietà, 8 Piazza Marconi, 1 paesaggisti conservatori’ - Province of Treviso Tel. +39.0422.547632 - Fax +39.0422.419092 Tel. and Fax +39.0423.976975 e-mail: [email protected] e-mail: [email protected] Texts P aola Filippi Optimisation I.A.T. I.A.T. Consuelo Ceolin Via Noalese, 63 Viale della Vittoria, 110 Maps Tel. +39.0422.263282 Tel. +39.0438.57243 - Fax +39.0438.53629 Sistema Informativo Territoriale Integrato e-mail: [email protected] e-mail: [email protected] Provincia di Treviso Distribution I.A.T. ASOLO Unità Organizzazione Turistica Piazza Garibaldi, 73 Road signs Tel. +39.0423.529046 - Fax +39.0423.524137 For information: Federico Nardelotto e-mail: [email protected] www.provincia.treviso.it Pictures http://turismo.provincia.treviso.it Maurizio Sartoretto, Historical photographic archive -Province of Treviso, Marco Zanta, Giovanni Porcellato I.A.T. CASTELFRANCO VENETO (Fondazione Canova) Via F. M. Preti, 66 Translation Tel. +39.0423.491416 - Fax +39.0423.771085 Monica Santini e-mail: [email protected] For tourist reservations Layout Eurekip.com I.A.T. AGENZIA TURISTICA DEL CONSORZIO Printed by Via XX Settembre, 61 Tel. +39 0422 422891 / 301084 Fax +39 0422 422749 / 301555 Tel. +39.0438.21230 - Fax +39.0438.428777 e-mail: [email protected] e-mail: [email protected] web site: www.marcatreviso.it Thanks to all the Councils involved. 51 10/07 ourist System T revigiana Local T Marca 3

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