Villa Manzoni in Noventa Padovana as it appears today, with its main facade opening onto a large field near the old course of the Brenta, now covered over, dates from the second half of the eighteenth century. The current edifice is probably derived from an original fifteenth-century structure, a period when noble Venetian families turned their interest to the rich lands of the Riviera del Brenta, a popular holiday destination. The date 1732, on the base of the stone sphere that crowns the summit of the roof, marks the start of works on modernising the villa, carried out between 1770 and 1773, when Andrea Urbani painted the frescoes that decorate the small living room on the ground floor, the bird room and others in the villa. The design for the composition of the facade, similar to that of the Villa Grimani Vendramin Calergi Valmarana, may also be attributed to him. The Serlian triple lancet windows in the passage living room on the piano nobile in particular seem very similar in the two villas. The project to restore and adapt was intended to preserve and highlight the Villa Manzoni complex, starting precisely from the barchesse (colonnaded barns) now mainly used for storage. It was intended to conserve the specific construction detail of the buildings, their morphology, the special court articulation and at the same time adapt the existing structures to the new tourist-residential use, also involving the villa’s monumental park. The renovated complex is intended to become a centre of attraction in the mainly urbanised surrounding area as a potential centre for cultural or recreational events. Considered in this way, the complex could once again relive its ancient splendour and become a driving force for the local economy while retaining its ancient function as a place for holidays.
The project for the restoration of the main part of Villa Manzoni, consisting of the villa itself and the lemon house, carried out between 2018 and 2020 is the natural completion of the analysis of the monumental complex, aimed at identifying the necessary interventions for the reuse and conservation of the property (from the restoration of the decorative elements of the villa to the study of the upgrading the mechanical systems.)