Preface:
Parking was terrible for this one. We just couldn’t find anywhere to ditch the car that didn’t make it completely obvious what we were up to.
We decided that a good plan would be for 3 of us to get in and see what the place was like, and if it was even worth exploring at all, while Priority 7 ditched the car. Entry was tight and actual quite painful for someone as erm… ‘muscular’ as me.
We felt quite exposed inside the grounds, so decided to make a bolt for the building and wait inside for Priority 7. Luckily the entry to the building was easier than the site.
The room was pitch black to me as my retinas had been bleached by the mid day sun outside. I huffed and puffed in the cool dusty air, knowing we’d have 10 mins to catch our breaths and let our eyes adjust while we waited…
Simultaneously all of our phones buzzed at once.
“You’ve been clocked by the farmer going in”
S*it! We had a quick discussion about what to do, and decided that we were in, so should do a 5-10 min rushed explore and get out.
So handheld, high ISO we ran around like headless chickens in the calm, cool villa before making our exit.
History:
I managed to find a bit of info on the place, mainly consisting of long lists of rich families that have lived here. There has been a manor here since the 1600s, no doubt rebuilt more times to mention. About five hundred years ago, the architectural genius of Andrea di "Pietro della Gondola", better known as "Palladio", embellished the Venetian countryside with the construction of majestic mansions of unparalleled charm famous all over the world. This villa was named after a flower of the 16th century in Veneto,
The historical listing for the current building describes it as 140m long, with a 19c portal (which was much more comfortable than the site entry portal). The estate agent describes it as 67,245 sq m of land. The house itself covers a whopping 8,252.44 sqm (my house is 75sqm)
“A cornice horizontally divides the ground floor, decorated with fake rustication, from the first noble floor, plastered with traces of nineteenth-century geometric ornamental paintings; on it there are two pilasters designed to support the serrated crowning tympanum and to frame the central portion of the facade, within which, still on the first floor, opens a balcony refined by a marble balustrade and flanked by two false windows, which are in turn balustrades.”
Well there you go, that’s what I was going to say.
It goes onto descried a dovecote at the back, built in 1832 for the drying of grain. But we didn’t get that far. We rushed through the main house, but the rear half had mainly collapsed and been taken over by brambles.
“On the right side, flows the Gamandone, which once animated a mill and a pile, built by the Curtoni brothers in 1649. In the courtyard there are other buildings, such as the steward's house, the stables, the blacksmith's and carpenter's shops and more; until the early 60s of the last century, about ninety people lived in Cortalta.”
Epilogue:
After 8-10 minutes, we were already halfway across the lawn heading to the tight hole out of the site. I was grateful for the sweat I was now producing as I was fully lubricated, bursting out the site like a newborn baby covered in amniotic fluid. I was first out (as I wanted to film the others being born). P7 was parked 200m up the road, and sped towards us arriving just as the last of us emerged. No time for opening the boot, we just bundled in simultaneously and sped off into the Italian countryside.
I’ve since found out that the place is on the market for 600,000 euros. Which includes architectural drawings for its conversion to a hotel, golf course, spa and conferencing facilities.
Parking was terrible for this one. We just couldn’t find anywhere to ditch the car that didn’t make it completely obvious what we were up to.
We decided that a good plan would be for 3 of us to get in and see what the place was like, and if it was even worth exploring at all, while Priority 7 ditched the car. Entry was tight and actual quite painful for someone as erm… ‘muscular’ as me.
We felt quite exposed inside the grounds, so decided to make a bolt for the building and wait inside for Priority 7. Luckily the entry to the building was easier than the site.
The room was pitch black to me as my retinas had been bleached by the mid day sun outside. I huffed and puffed in the cool dusty air, knowing we’d have 10 mins to catch our breaths and let our eyes adjust while we waited…
Simultaneously all of our phones buzzed at once.
“You’ve been clocked by the farmer going in”
S*it! We had a quick discussion about what to do, and decided that we were in, so should do a 5-10 min rushed explore and get out.
So handheld, high ISO we ran around like headless chickens in the calm, cool villa before making our exit.
History:
I managed to find a bit of info on the place, mainly consisting of long lists of rich families that have lived here. There has been a manor here since the 1600s, no doubt rebuilt more times to mention. About five hundred years ago, the architectural genius of Andrea di "Pietro della Gondola", better known as "Palladio", embellished the Venetian countryside with the construction of majestic mansions of unparalleled charm famous all over the world. This villa was named after a flower of the 16th century in Veneto,
The historical listing for the current building describes it as 140m long, with a 19c portal (which was much more comfortable than the site entry portal). The estate agent describes it as 67,245 sq m of land. The house itself covers a whopping 8,252.44 sqm (my house is 75sqm)
“A cornice horizontally divides the ground floor, decorated with fake rustication, from the first noble floor, plastered with traces of nineteenth-century geometric ornamental paintings; on it there are two pilasters designed to support the serrated crowning tympanum and to frame the central portion of the facade, within which, still on the first floor, opens a balcony refined by a marble balustrade and flanked by two false windows, which are in turn balustrades.”
Well there you go, that’s what I was going to say.
It goes onto descried a dovecote at the back, built in 1832 for the drying of grain. But we didn’t get that far. We rushed through the main house, but the rear half had mainly collapsed and been taken over by brambles.
“On the right side, flows the Gamandone, which once animated a mill and a pile, built by the Curtoni brothers in 1649. In the courtyard there are other buildings, such as the steward's house, the stables, the blacksmith's and carpenter's shops and more; until the early 60s of the last century, about ninety people lived in Cortalta.”
Epilogue:
After 8-10 minutes, we were already halfway across the lawn heading to the tight hole out of the site. I was grateful for the sweat I was now producing as I was fully lubricated, bursting out the site like a newborn baby covered in amniotic fluid. I was first out (as I wanted to film the others being born). P7 was parked 200m up the road, and sped towards us arriving just as the last of us emerged. No time for opening the boot, we just bundled in simultaneously and sped off into the Italian countryside.
I’ve since found out that the place is on the market for 600,000 euros. Which includes architectural drawings for its conversion to a hotel, golf course, spa and conferencing facilities.
