travelswithalice

Villa Barbaro, Villa Emo, and Villa Saraceno

Villa Barbaro was not difficult to find but we got there too late in the day so we couldn’t get in. We photographed every inch of the yellow and white building from outside the walls and inspected the family chapel across the road. Legend has it that it was there that Palladio died, at the building site of the chapel which he had been commissioned to build as an adjunct to the main villa.

Nearby was Villa Emo, which again was already closed for the day. So, as with the Villa Barbaro, after a quick tour of the surrounding area, we had to leave the exploration of the interior for the next day. This did not happen though, for the two villas were not open the next day.

I didn’t mind this very much as I was eager to get to the two I was really interested in, Villa Poiana and Villa Pisani.

On the way to these two villas, we made a quick detour to one of the lesser ones, Villa Saraceno. 

We parked across the road and got out of the car for a closer look at the house. There were people on the loggia; they looked like they were packing up and they stared at us. Neither the house nor the people looked friendly or interesting enough so we took pictures and drove on.

We were getting shut out of our villas; but we got less timid as we went along.