Small and perfectly integrated into the urban fabric around the Cathedral, the villa is a classic example of the urban villa typology of the Veneto province, which the renovation has kept readable in every part.
The reorganization of the city to the west of the Cathedral in the 16th and 17th centuries would have been reserved for good quality residential buildings, which partly evolved into current construction and partly remain legible, as is the case with the Dolfin Boldù urban villa, built on previous 15th-century buildings.
In the 17th century, the plot was already occupied by a house on via Sabina (which at that time was the main street facing the Cathedral). At the beginning of the 1600s, the building was renovated, subsequently organizing the part facing the courtyard, overseeing the road that became important with the opening of the Ponte della Girometta (now via Zanchi). The villa, in its current forms, was completed at the end of the 1600s (an inscription on the wall mentions 1684), and in the following three centuries, annexes and stables were added, and more recently, services in the lateral spaces.
The villa was donated to the municipality in 1940 for cultural and social uses by an heir of Dolfin Boldù, a branch uniting two noble Venetian families. The complex was used as a high school for several decades and by the end of the 1900s, it needed restoration.
With the restorations, the space, unsuitable for the modern standards of schools, was transformed into a library.
The restoration (2000-2005) best showcased the architectural quality of the building, of modest proportions but crafted to indicate the nobility of its Venetian owners. In particular, the openings of the central rooms stand out, with serliana and trifora styles featuring columns and the pediment on the two upper floors, along with the two obelisks on the roof, placed to embellish the garden facade.
The project involves, in addition to a philological recomposition of the facades, the internal arrangement (especially of the services, stairways, and attic) and the habilitation of the annexes, essential for the functionality of the library. The restoration also allowed for a reorganization of the spaces of the annexed buildings from the 18th century (rustic buildings, stables, lemon house), creating the necessary functions for the organization of the civic library.
The services, functional distribution, and equipment that struggled to find space in the imposing rooms of the villa have been arranged in the lateral rustic buildings, which were able to be renovated with greater freedom.
Three dolphins on the coat of arms of the entrance gate: the Dolfin family were certainly not of Este, but came from maritime traditions.
With dramatic lighting, the entrance garden, in its current arrangement, presents the villa as the backdrop of a Goldonian comedy, with the wings provided by the restored lateral barchessa and the open curtain of green trees on the street front.
