Padua historic gardens

Padua is rich in historical gardens as a vivid expression of the highest civilization and culture, in particular the search for harmony between man and nature.

On this page I will describe the most interesting places to visit, but we can arrange the final version of the tour only individually, depending on the time of year, your wishes and interests!

The seventeenth-century park of Villa Barbarigo in Valsanzibio is undoubtedly one of the most emblematic places in Veneto. It is called the “Little Versailles”. It is located among fabulously beautiful hills. The park was founded at the end of the seventeenth century by order of the noble family Barbarigo, because the whole family lived here for a long time, fleeing the plague. On its territory there are a huge number of attractions and landscape points, also a wonderful boxwood labyrinth was grown here, the monument "Bathing Diana", Rabbit Island, large ponds, three lakes, 16 fountains, the Statue of Time and 70 other statues were erected.

High symbols permeate the inspired park complex Garden Valsanzibio, created by Gregory Barbarigo. This remarkable man was Bishop of Padua, then Cardinal, and finally elevated to the rank of Saint. Park alleys and landscape symbolize the journey through earthly life, the difficult path of man to purification and salvation.

The magnificent color effects of roses characterize the spring months at Villa Emo in Rivella di Moncelice. There are two long fish ponds bordered by callas and irises, filled with water lilies. Two wide pink curbs outline the correct geometry of the garden in front of the villa, while the long hornbeam gallery and geometric boxwood figures form the unique landscape of this fabulous place.

Located in a beautiful park of eight hectares, Villa Miari de Cumani in the town of S. Helena d’Este, has a wall with Ghibellin teeth and a mighty tower that turns it into a medieval castle. The huge complex includes a manor, a village house, a greenhouse, the Hermitage, the Nymph Fountains, a large garden in the shape of a quadrangle with a fish pond and a park designed in 1855 by the architect Paoletti, a student of Japelli, with a cave, a lake and other architectural elements of decor.

The lush green area surrounding Villa Pisani Scalabrin in Vescovana was celebrated by the famous writer Margaret Symonds, who stayed here in 1880. The park landscape is divided into an Italian garden and an English park with a romantic neo-Gothic chapel and is especially attractive in spring and early summer, when flower beds fanned around the central fountain cast in different shades.

Our fascinating route in the beautiful Frassanelle Park (Fassanelle) will take place between centuries-old plane trees and oak trees. His design was designed by Count Alessandro Papafava (1784–1861) and later ennobled by Alberto Papafava Carrara (1833–1903) by landscape architect. The park includes elements of an Anglo-Saxon garden and a romantic garden, thanks to the influence of the famous architect Giuseppe Jappelli. In particular, there are fascinating caves, in which the play of light and shadow alternate with high dramatic knowledge.

The extensive complex of Pelagia Castle in Due Carrare, also known as the “Museum of Aviation and Flying”, housed in ancient halls, has a large garden with a pond, labyrinth and glacier. The garden is divided into a Representative Garden with a pond filled with water lilies and a Secret Garden with old trees and numerous fragrant essences, an extensive orchard, a Minotaur labyrinth and a hydroplane pond.

Villa Contarini, one of the largest in the Veneto region, has a huge English park of 50 hectares, crossed by shady alleys, with an artificial lake of 5 hectares and a wooded island in the middle. This area has significant naturalistic value as it is a kind of nature reserve with dozens of species of native and migratory birds that nest here regularly: gray herons, cormorants, kingfisher and woodpeckers.

The historic garden of Villa Ca Marcello is very rich and unusual. The estate is still inhabited by the descendants of the Venetian Marcello family, who built this villa in the sixteenth century. The front part of the garden is decorated in Italian style, with a fountain, with a large flower garden, with lawns, with hedges and mythological statues. Different types of flowers spread their petals from April to October (mainly forsytia, magnolia, viburnio and mahonia). In the vast and lush park stretching around the whole villa, there are long rows of hornbone, linden and oak, there are also some very rare species of long-lived plants: among them the hornbone and tulip tree tercentenaries, lime trees, copper beech and plane trees. Complete the garden Tower for Pigeons, a chapel and a large pond with fish. Finally, some parts of the park become a forest, with alleys, with old trees and romantic trails decorated with statues of animals and characters, both historical and fabulous, statues of dwarfs, monkeys and musicians.