From Biagio with love - Spectacular Saraceno

Enjoy four nights for up to 16 guests in the majestic Villa Saraceno in the Veneto, Italy from 9 - 12^th August 2021

Designed and built by Andrea Palladio between 1545 and 1555, the architect who inspired the 3^rd Earl of Burlington to build Chiswick House, Villa Saraceno was commissioned by Biagio Saraceno, a nobleman from Vicenza. Now one of just twenty such surviving residences by Palladio, one of Italy’s greatest Renaissance architects, it forms part of the UNESCO World Heritage Site of the Palladian Villas of the Veneto.

Through his careful study of ancient Roman architecture, Palladio aimed to recapture the splendour of antiquity. And in Villa Saraceno he sought to recreate the Roman ideal of escaping the bustle of the city in a cultured but self-sufficient existence in the countryside. Beautifully restored, and impeccably maintained by The Landmark Trust, Villa Saraceno is now the only Palladio villa you can have entirely to yourself. Frescoes abound and guests dine like gods by candlelight under the vaulted and frescoed loggia, looking out at the stars, just as Biagio and his family did nearly half a millennia ago.

Three bedrooms sleep five in the main villa (a double, twin and single, with three bathrooms). The casa vecchia (old house), has two double bedrooms, one twin, one single and a ‘dorm’ room with four single beds, the four bedrooms served by three bathrooms. It also has its own kitchen. There are working fireplaces in the sitting rooms in both the villa and the house. And in the villa dining room all 16 can eat at a long oak table.

Villa Saraceno is self-catering, but cooking fresh Italian produce in the large elevated villa kitchen is a joy in itself. There is a hypermarket for supplies five minutes’ drive away. Custodians Fabio and Elisabetta can also cater for you if you wish, and be relied upon to lay on a sumptuous meal in the best traditions of Italian cuisine.

The villa is cleverly aligned to catch the breezes from the Dolomites, staying cool even in summer. The extensive grounds stand alone in the fertile Veneto plain and follow the Renaissance pattern of a wild hay meadow to the rear – a delight for the naturalist – and a more formal corte in front, perfect for younger members of the party to let off steam. Others may prefer to doze in the shade of the mulberry trees or gather ripe figs and grapes from the walls.

Padua, Vicenza and Venice are all within reach for a day trip, while the Euganean Hills Regional Park offers great walking, wonderful views and local restaurants. The villa is an hour’s drive from Venice Marco Polo airport. In her own words, Caroline Stanford, Landmark’s in-house historian and head of engagement reveals: Don’t tell anyone, but Villa Saraceno is my favourite Landmark Trust of all their wonderful historic holiday lets. Everyone who stays there falls under its spell.

As a rich young man in his early twenties, Richard Boyle, 3^rd Earl of Burlington clearly did fall under Palladio’s spell. Keen to stamp his own mark on the country estate he had inherited to the west of London, he eschewed the Baroque, the prevalent style of the day. Instead, the ‘Architect Earl’ poured over Palladio’s treatise I quattro libri dell'architettura written 150 years earlier and visited the Veneto in 1719 to understand the Italian’s house designs first-hand. On his return to England, Burlington reinterpreted Palladio’s exquisite blend of classical proportion and welcome retreat (combined in Villa Saraceno to perfection), in his own ground-breaking Neo-Palladian designs for his country retreat by the Thames: Chiswick House.

Donated by The Landmark Trust.

Terms & Conditions:
To be taken by the highest bidder
Available from 4pm Monday 9 August to 10am Friday 13 August 2021
For up to sixteen guests in total
Not transferable