Built between 1535 and 1542 as a country residence for bishop Francesco Pisani of Padua, Villa dei Vescovi dominates the rural landscape of the Euganean Hills in Luvigliano di Torreglia (Padua) with its conquering glory. The building rises from a terrace on the hilltop and is surrounded on all sides by lush farmed countryside. The architecture borrows Romanesque elements and demonstrates a perfect balance between art and nature, a theme reiterated inside in the articulated fresco cycle, Raphaelite in inspiration, painted between 1542 and 1548 by Lamberto Sustris.
The villa is flanked by a courtyard which is laid out like a Renaissance garden and features four square lawns. It is bounded by a high wall which has three gates and offers a view over a vast brolo (Renaissance-era kitchen garden), also surrounded by a boundary wall with a large entrance on the eastern side, that extends for approx. six hectares with 3 vineyards growing a variety of grapes, large lawns and an orchard of marasca cherry trees. There is also a small lake which gathers the runoff of irrigation water from the vines.
FAI - Fondo Ambiente Italiano
Via Carlo Foldi 2 - 20135 Milano
Phone: +39 02 46 76 15 393
Email: m.pizzorni@fondoambiente.it
