After an early morning departure from Graz we had a two hour bus ride to catch our three hour train that would take us to Venezia (Venice). Once we arrived we met our tour guide for the afternoon who would take us to two of the Palladian Villas that we would visit while here. The first stop was Villa Malcontenta, built five centuries ago on a canal, which used to be the only means of accessing it. It was absolutely stunning! The north and south facades were completely different, but equally as beautiful. The villa is owned by a private family, the husband an architect, the wife an interior designer, but they do not live within the villa. The villa is accessible by appointment only and we were lucky enough to have a private guided tour by Wilma, who explained to us about Palladio himself, the villa and the beautiful frescos that covered the walls and ceilings inside.
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| Villa Malcontenta |
Our second stop of the day was another villa designed by Palladio, who Wilma tells us is the greatest architect, Villa Emo. This villa was Giudi’s favorite and I might have to agree. In front of the villa was not a pedestrian staircase but an equine staircase. The views both from the villa and through it were amazing. Unlike the last villa, the frescos were original and in very good shape. I loved the space and the fact that you could see all the way through from one side to the other, I could just envision Nick and I sitting in the grand hall with an amazing cool breeze blowing through! Not only was the villa itself beautiful, so was the landscape, especially the flowers flowing up the equine staircase – they smelled amazing. Wilma advised that they were edible, but I didn’t test them.
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| Villa Emo |
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| Villa Emo |
Last stop of the day was Brion Cemetery designed by Carlo Scarpo in the late 1960s. Nick expected me to fall in love with it, while I enjoyed the spaces I didn’t entirely understand the reasoning behind the design, which was fine with me 🙂 I just enjoyed being there and not having to think about anything!
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| Brion Cemetery |
After a long day of riding on the bus we finally arrived in Venezia (Venice) and were lucky enough to arrive after dark. For those of you who don’t know, Venezia are islands and easily accessible by boat, there are no cars or bikes there. The view of the city from the water taxi was absolutely amazing!
So jealous! Loved the Brion cemetery and the whole trip with Wilma…she's terrific.
Brion Vega – SO jealous!! That was the first architectural project I EVER studied!!