Discover Villa Valmarana ai Nani
An oasis of art and history at the top of the hill of San Bastiano
The Villa consists of three buildings – the Palazzina, the Foresteria, and the Scuderia – surrounded by rose gardens, an Italian garden with two fragrant Olea Fragrans, two hornbeam groves framing the picturesque nymphaeum in the rear park.
Walking down from the Stables we encounter the vegetable garden followed by the Forests: its paths take you to the extraordinary Pagoda (end of the 18th century) and to the little church that once belonged to the Rotonda, all the way to the magnificent Villa by Palladio.
Today I visited Villa Valmarana, which Tiepolo decorated, giving free rein to all his virtues and his flaws.
In 1757, Giambattista and Giandomenico Tiepolo, at the request of Giustino Valmarana, frescoed the Palazzina and the Foresteria, making the Villa a true masterpiece of 18th-century Italian art.
Where does the term ‘ai Nani’ come from?
The term refers to the 17 stone dwarfs, placed on the perimeter wall, which seem to guard the Villa. Likely created by Francesco Uliaco based on the drawings by Giambattista Tiepolo, these dwarfs are tied to the captivating legend of Princess Layana, intertwining history and myth in a truly unique atmosphere.
