The traveler who in the 18th century embarked on the traditional Tour d'Italie and, aboard the burchio, sailed up the Brenta from Venice to Padua, could admire one of the jewels of late Venetian Baroque: the Villa Widmann Rezzonico Foscari complex.
A jewel among the jewels of the Riviera del Brenta, Villa Widmann Rezzonico Foscari is characterized by its ancient statues, brilliant frescoes, created by Giuseppe Angeli and Gerolamo Mengozzi Colonna, Murano glass chandeliers, and period furnishings. Its monumental park stretches more than 16,000 square meters among avenues of hornbeam trees, ancient roses and a romantic pond with aquatic bald cypresses.
Built in the early 18th century at the behest of the Serimann family, Venetian nobles of Persian origin, the Villa achieved its present form only in the middle of the same century, when the Widmann family, after buying the property, modernized it by adapting it to the French Rococo taste. The main body thus became a welcoming home for parties and receptions.
Currently the complex is owned by the Metropolitan City of Venice, formerly the Province of Venice.
