Villa Barbaro

A short distance from the beautiful town of Asolo that I featured back in July of 2013 (you can see it here) is Villa Barbaro, a grand villa designed and built by Andrea Palladio.  The villa is still lived in today by descendants of Count Giuseppe Volpidi Misurata the founder of the Venice Film Festival who acquired it in 1934 for his daughter Marina.  In 1996 it was listed as a UNESCO World Heritage site.  Parts of the villa are open for tours.

We walked past the Fountain of Neptune and up the long driveway to the entrance.  Upon entering the villa, visitors are given a pair of jumbo sized, slide-on slippers to slip over our shoes while walking inside the villa.  I really wish I had taken a picture of those goofy, clown-like slippers but, photos inside the villa were not allowed and they had many attendants around to make sure you obeyed the rules.

I really think those shoes served a dual purpose.  I couldn't really lift my feet so I just scooted along polishing the floor as I went.

Photos were allowed on the grounds of the villa and that's a good thing because there were certainly grand views in almost every direction.

This vine covered walkway led to a fountain at the end.  

The family living in Villa Barbaro operate a winery and the grounds of the villa are surrounded by vineyards.  The photo above is a view from the villa grounds looking over the vineyards toward a church in the distance.

Next week I'll post a little about an event that was going on just across the road from the villa when we visited there.  It was another one of those unexpected things we stumbled on to as we roamed the Italian countryside.