The villa is one of the oldest buildings in Este, whose construction and ownership is attributed to the Dukes of Este, who transferred it to the Pisani in 1537.
In the mid-16th century, the city did not extend to the Bisatto. Behind the Town Hall, what later becomes a palace is a two-story house with a doorway, taller than the two other buildings on either side, and with a small garden.
It expands and transforms until the mid-1700s (when we recognize the current appearance of the central body, although the interior has been greatly altered), while the barchesse become school classrooms and the brolo turns into a soccer field and then parking in the 20th century when it becomes municipal property.
In the 18th century, the villa is so important that a semicircular building is designed across the street in front of the façade, with a passage leading straight to Piazza Maggiore. It still exists today, while nothing remains on the inside: the two side “barchesse” and the large garden with flower beds surrounded by the broli have disappeared.
The villa is characterized by the pediment with the central coat of arms and the two side pinnacles. It stands between the two bell towers (S. Martino and S. Rocco).
The brolo of the villa extends to the Church of the Grazie, separated by a wall from that of the Convent and the Church of S. Michele (transformed in 1947 into Cinema Cristallo), which can be glimpsed at the bottom right along with its demolished bell tower.
The façade of the villa is almost more rural than urban (until the 19th century the block along the Bisatto was undeveloped and the brolo was open to the south and east), with two very expanded stories (13 windows instead of the traditional 7) and the elegance of a pediment with side pinnacles, in the Venetian style.
In the early 19th century, the "Villa" took on the layout that has lasted until today, while the park is divided between the appurtenances of the house on via Principe Umberto and an Italian garden, with flowerbeds and exedras, created in the southernmost part of the lot, asymmetrical to the palace.
In an aerial photogrammetry from 1936, made by the Municipal Technical Office, the conditions of Villa Pisani during the fascist era can be seen, before the two wings were demolished and rebuilt and before the façade changes in 1955. The photographic evidence also documents the destruction of the garden between the two wings, wanted to make room for gatherings, and what remained of the park, leveled to create the sports field and gym.
The large brolo becomes a soccer field during fascism and then, as the villa becomes a school, it transforms into a public shaded parking lot, one of the largest in the city.
The boundary wall of the ancient brolo is an important work of 16th/18th-century villa architecture and in many cases now assumes an archaeological value, a trace of an ancient splendor that is now lost.
By: Raytrayen Beakovic Lauria (2023-2024).
