Villa Valmarana ai Nani

Two buildings on San Bastian hill hold fresco cycles by Giambattista and Giandomenico Tiepolo. In the Palazzina, the elder Tiepolo painted mythological and epic subjects; in the Foresteria, his son depicted dwarfs, peasants and Carnival. Seventeen stone figures on the perimeter wall gave the villa its name.

Why it matters

Giustino Valmarana commissioned the frescoes in 1757, bringing father and son together. Giambattista Tiepolo decorated the Palazzina with gods and epic heroines; Giandomenico's Foresteria cycle is considered the most important work of his career. The property began as a farmhouse belonging to jurist Gian Maria Bertolo's family before the Valmarana acquired it around 1720. Francesco Muttoni added the stables, terraces, stairs and turret in the 1730s. The villa remains in Valmarana ownership.

What to notice

In the Palazzina, the room sequence draws on Giustino Valmarana's favourite authors. The Sacrifice of Iphigenia begins the classical subjects; the Iliad room includes Thetis, and the Aeneid room depicts Aeneas in Dido's Carthage, with Dido bearing the features of Cecilia Guardi, Tiepolo's wife. In the Orlando Furioso room, Angelica and Medoro are by Giambattista, while two peasants at the door are by Giandomenico; quadrature by Gerolamo Mengozzi Colonna frames the scene. A ceiling Triumph of Venus was damaged by an Allied bomb on 26 March 1944. The Foresteria cycle includes Chinese subjects, Venetian peasants, promenades and Carnival scenes. Seventeen stone figures inspired by Commedia dell'Arte types and Remondini prints stand along the perimeter wall; their sculptor is unidentified, while preparatory drawings are attributed to Giandomenico.

Context and history

The villa's legend tells of Princess Layana, raised among dwarf servants so she would not see her difference, and of her court petrifying after she leapt from a tower. The stone figures are garden statuary from the eighteenth century, moved to the perimeter wall, probably by Elena Garzadori. The estate's gardens frame the Valletta del Silenzio, associated with writer Antonio Fogazzaro, who married Margherita Valmarana and set Piccolo Mondo Moderno in a villa modelled on this one. Goethe visited in the 1780s and distinguished the two painters' hands; Antonio Morassi formalised the attribution in 1941, dating the Ciarlatano picture to 1757. The Bosco behind the villa was recently reopened with paths leading toward Palladio's Rotonda.