Archive for 'Architectural Gems'

The Villa Manin at Passariano in Codroipo, Friuli Venezia Giulia is a Venetian villa with a fascinating history that now houses a gallery and regularly hosts exhibitions, events and, even holds concerts on the grounds. It was built in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries for the Manin family, from whom it takes its name. Between the stunning grounds which surround, the history, the iconic architecture, the extensive collections and once-off exhibitions, range of events and concerts, its somewhere where you'll never be stuck for things to do. Why not find a villa with pool in Friuli Venezia Giulia and visit for yourself?

St Patrick conjures images of Ireland to mind, not Italy. However, a particularly fascinating monument in Orvieto, Umbria has the British saint's name attached to it. St Patrick's Well, originally called The Fortress Well – which would be a far more suitable title to use – is an exceptionally deep well which was built to provide water to Orvieto during times of siege.

Built on the edge of a cliff in the early 1500s and a masterpiece of hydraulic engineering, it is now a popular tourist site.

The structure is so ingrained into Italian mindsets that to call someone generous you can say that they have pockets as deep as St Patrick's Well. If you want to see this astounding and iconic structure for yourself, find a luxury villa in Umbria and make the descent into the depths of the earth.

The Villa Aldobrandini is a villa in Frascati, a town in the province of Rome. The original villa on the site was built by Alessandro Rufini in 1550. In 1598, it was given by Pope Clement VIII to his nephew, Cardinal Pietro Aldobrandini, from whom the villa takes its name. It is the only papal villa which is not owned by the state and is, instead, still owned and occupied by members of the Aldobrandini family, though its gardens are (luckily) open to the public on a daily basis.

Find a villa with pool in the Latium region and you could spend a day wandering these historic and famous gardens which are considered the best of early Italian Baroque style.

Pope Alexander VII had huge ambitions for Rome and took on large-scale building projects with the aim to reorganise and redesign large chunks of it. Together with the wunderkind architect, sculptor, painter, writer and designer, Bernini, he completed one of these major works, St Peter's Square. This open space lies in front of St Peter's Basilica and Alexander wanted it to be laid out so that the maximum number of worshippers would be able to see the Pope giving his blessings from the church or adjacent Papal apartments as well as to make a grand entrance to the hallowed buildings. A collaborative affair, the plans were made over several stages of planning until the present design was decided upon.

In 1218, we are told that St Francis of Assisi planted a rose and laurel near Montegiove in Umbria. From this spot, a fountain rose up and he built a hut made of “scarza” (a marsh plant) and founded a monastery on the miraculous site. In the 1400s a church and monastic buildings were built in order to celebrate the saint and this act. However, this was abandoned in the 18th century. The buildings and site fell into a state of disrepair and sections were lost until the Milanese architect, Tomaso Buzzi bought it in 1957. He restored the monastery and then went on to build his “ideal city”.

This fantastical city and landscape is bizarre and surreal but truly unique and fascinating.