




Palazzo Maffetti Manzoni in Padua
Project
Restoration and Renovation of a residential complex
Location
Padua
Project year
2003-in progress
Client
Private
Surface
–
The Palazzo Maffetti-Manzoni monumental complex, rebuilt in the mid-eighteenth century on the structure of ancient buildings, rises near the most important monument in Padua, the basilica cathedral of Santa Maria Assunta, better known as ‘il Duomo’ – whose current appearance is due to the genius of Michelangelo. The division of the complex into three building elements defines a nineteenth-century frame of neoclassical forms tending towards a Renaissance style that embraces the artistic and natural scenario of the garden, characterised by hundred-year old trees such as the Chamaecyparis. A project for its restoration, morphological recomposition and restructuring, with respect for the typological and architectural characteristics of the monumental complex, could only be developed by means of diagnostic investigations, accompanied by a cognitive study into the history of the site, in both architectural and artistic terms; noteworthy in this respect is the neoclassical decorative apparatus, embellished by the cycle of frescoes with scenes of villa life by the painter Giuseppe Bernardino Bison. The need to recover, conserve and adapt the residential units to the changing needs of modern society was recognised and met by the project, aimed also at creating new property units and consequent new vertical connections, which allow some parts of the monumental complex to be made more accessible to differently abled people. All the works were calibrated to highlight and reinstate the proper historic lustre to Palazzo Maffetti-Manzoni, a property declared to be of cultural interest by the Soprintendenza per i Beni Ambientali e Architettonici del Veneto.