|
|
| Map of the villa and surroundings |
Arcugnano, 110 m/360 feet above sea level; train station at Vicenza, about 5 km/3 miles to the north.
This villa while tracing the Palladian model, is much more recent, having been constructed by the architect Ottavio Bertotti Scamozzi between 1770 and 1779, during the last years of the Serenissima. Franceschini was a wealthy silk merchant of Vicenza.
The facade resembles that of Villa Rotunda and other Palladian villas, but what previously was a portico jutting out, here becomes a loggia inserted into the building flush with the wall.
In the late nineteenth century the new owner Anthony Callegaro Negrin added a wing in the classical style, statues in the Italianate garden and collections of paintings inside.
The villa is situated on the slopes of the Colli Berici [Berici hills], overlooking the village of Arcugnano, and can be reached by bike from Vicenza following the Colli Berici bike route (get onto Viale 10 Giugno immediately behind the train station; in Arcugnano this street takes the name Via Roma).
Latest visit: 2002-07-28