Palladio's villa on the Brenta
At the point where the Brenta canal approaches the lagoon, at Mira near Venice, Villa Foscari, known as La Malcontenta, is one of the most beautiful villas of Andrea Palladio and part of the UNESCO site "City of Vicenza and the Palladian Villas of the Veneto". It was built around 1559 for the brothers Nicolò and Alvise Foscari, members of one of the most powerful families of the Republic.
The villa looks onto the canal like an ancient temple: raised on a high base, which protected it from floods, it has an Ionic portico with six columns and a triangular pediment, reached by two side staircases, a solution inspired by Roman architecture that made it one of the most imitated buildings in Western architecture, from English country houses to American plantation houses. Inside, the great cross-shaped hall is decorated with frescoes by Giovanni Battista Zelotti and Battista Franco. The origin of the nickname "Malcontenta", the unhappy woman, is uncertain: a legend tells of a lady of the Foscari family exiled here for her immoral behaviour, but the name probably comes from the "malcontent" waters of the area.
Tip: the villa is open from spring to autumn on certain days; the view from the canal, by burchiello, is the one Palladio designed.
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