The nineteenth-century Villa De Manzoni ai Patt, or Villa Patt, is the work of architect Giuseppe Jappelli, known for designing the famous Caffè Pedrocchi in Padua. This Belluno villa was commissioned by Giovanni Antonio de Manzoni, a descendant of a Lombard family who became wealthy from holding the position of manager of the Agordo mines.
From the outside you will immediately notice the main body of the villa with its typical neoclassical shapes, flanked by the rustic wing in neo-Gothic style, added later by Giuseppe Segusini. You will recognize it by the geometrically patterned motifs that decorate its façade.
Continuing your tour inside, admire the two large frescoes in the rooms on the ground floor of the main body: “The Fight of the Spartans,” by Giovanni De Min, and “Aesop” painted by Pietro Paoletti.
Instead, Egyptian views and constellations of the zodiac, probably taken from a drawing by Belluno scientist and explorer Girolamo Segato, are the subjects of the frescoes that decorate the inside of the turret.
Complete your tour at the 7th Alpine Regiment Museum, housed inside the villa.
Curiosities
- In the early twentieth century, the villa was converted into a hotel estate by the Società dei Grandi Alberghi di Venezia. During World War I, it was devastated and looted, and in the 1960s the Villa became home to a Venetian branch of the Mothers and Children’s Aid Society.
- Frescoes by De Min and Paoletti have a moral intent: Aesop condemns drunkenness and incontinence with his fables, while Lycurgus rewards youth for competitive prowess.
