A villa of the Venetian nobility: built in the first half of the 17th century at a strategic point, just beyond the Bisatto: in the countryside but a stone's throw from the city. Perhaps commissioned by the Cornaro, it was sold to the Zenobio who renovated and expanded it, and from them, at the end of the 1700s to the Albrizzi who completed its sumptuous park and premises, currently offering it in full efficiency for holidays, ceremonies, and events.
The villa occupies the large lot near the Bisatto to the west of the walled city, inaugurating the series of "out-of-town" villas that characterize the expansion of Este in the 17th and 18th centuries, still today perfectly legible.
Like many of the residences of the Venetian nobility, the villa is situated along the Bisatto canal, navigable from the lagoon via Brenta and Bacchiglione. The built complex has remained concentrated in the northernmost part of the large available lot, further enlarged in the 19th century.
The strategic importance of the Bisatto Canal during Este's "Venetian" centuries is underscored by the public service role recognized for the channel and its banks, as is done today with highways.
In front of the villa, now separated by S. Pietro street, one can still notice the private access to a staircase that descends to the Bisatto, closed by a small iron gate. Here, since the 1600s, a boatyard served to shelter the boats. The landing is marked, in the embankment wall, by a stone engraved with the initials of the family.
In 1783, the marriage of the last Zenobio to an Albrizzi was celebrated in a new hall, rich in stuccoes and mirrors, built as a separate pavilion, splendidly decorated and immersed in the park next to the main villa. Today, perfectly preserved, it is the highlight of the offering for ceremonies and events.
Since the 18th century, the layout of the built complex has not changed, with the villa articulated in two bodies, the party pavilion and the large porticoed annexe with the barchesse. Instead, the interventions on the green spaces have succeeded each other, perfecting one of the most beautiful parks in the city and progressively reducing the rural part.
The great property of the Albrizzi expanded around 1880, acquiring the garden and orchards of the vanished Villa Bragadin, of which the monumental entrance arch is still visible today, isolated, along Via Augustea.
The Barchesse are arranged in an "L" shape, confining to the south and west the courtyard which the villa overlooks and separating it from the park (and the formerly rural parts).
The greenhouse, from the late 19th century, perhaps designed by Jappelli, takes up fashionable English models of the period.
These were the years when aristocratic English visitors animated the tourist resorts and the art cities, and in Este, the villa offered hospitality to many personalities, a habit that lasted throughout the 20th century.
The villa overlooks the main courtyard. The recent arrangement of the green area, restored along with the entire built complex, enhances the original design typical of the villas of the era, which separated the garden from the rustic part through the architecture of the annexes.
The avenue of large trees is a highlight of the plain villa, marking the difference between the small and large park. Here, one can satisfy the desire for distance from houses, from prying eyes, and find romantic solitude.
The villa has more urban than rural features, which are evident in its view of the courtyard, severe and little decorated, but equipped with a deep portico on the ground floor, today furnished with archaeological finds found in the estate.
The greenhouse is designed according to English models of the last quarter of the 19th century and fits perfectly into the redesign of the park made in the preceding years.
The fruits and vegetables that adorned the tables of the villa's guests were often produced on-site, in the gardens and orchards tended by the "villagers" housed around the noble core.
In the last quarter of the 19th century, the garden was expanded southward, acquiring the estate of the vanished villa Bragadin. A part has remained designated as a brolo, while around the villa the garden has been redesigned in neoclassical and romantic forms, perhaps by Giuseppe Jappelli, and there remains a section arranged in the Italian style, rich in archaeological finds.
