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Built during the 1600s, this wondrous villa consists of two buildings: the barn with the oratory and the manor house stretched with a series of perfectly aligned rooms that create an evocative game of perspectives.
Its garden, an English park of about 7.5 acres, is one of the most interesting along Riviera del Brenta. The most distinctive element is the water, which, supplied directly by the Brenta River, flows under the road and emerges in the park – right in the area where the current vegetable garden is housed – going across the whole estate.

Excerpt from “I giardini delle ville venete”, di Camilla Zanarotti, Silvana Editoriale.

The park of Villa Brusoni Scalella is definitely one of the most fascinating and mysterious ones on Riviera del Brenta. The design consistency and the ingenuity of the intricate irrigation system speak of the hand of a high-level designer, allegedly the architect Giuseppe Jappelli. Still, there are no documents that can prove this theory; on the other hand, some official papers requesting for water from the Brenta Canal to embellish the garden date back to 1852 – probably the year of the garden construction, right after the death of that famous architect.

The manor and the “barchesse” with the oratory were probably erected in the XVIII century. The presence of water and its peculiar use are the most iconic features of this noble property. The starting point of the complex water system is located north of the house, where the Brenta Canal feeds two watercourses on different heights. The higher course feeds the small lake and flows from here into further divisions: on one side, it continues towards the tower, while on the other, it runs along the lake eventually reaching the fisherman’s cottage. The other course feeds, in succession, a small fishpond in front of the villa, a well, and finally reaches the lake – the landscape feature around which the whole human creation revolves.

In addition to water, many distinctive elements can be found in the park: at the compositional level, there is the painstaking succession of solids and empty spaces; soft reliefs are always combined to create new points of view; bending paths offer evocating sights, and there is a non-stop intertwining between walkways and waterways. There are also some of those typical architectural artefacts from the repertoire of the past, like the suggestive Fisherman’s House on the shore of the lake, the neo-Renaissance tower on the hill, the ice shed with the Gothic arched door, and the House of deer.
Furthermore, a rich stone apparatus emphasizes the highlights of the lush and intriguing vegetation.

The park is also particularly interesting from a botanical point of view. There are several monumental specimens including some oaks (Quercus robur), an extraordinary red beech (Fagus sylvatica “Atropurpurea”), and a coast redwood (Sequoia sempervirens) of considerable size.

Specimens of Magnolia grandiflora, Platanus occidentalis, Sophora japonica, Taxodium disticum and many other species similar to the botanical repertoire of the English landscape garden form the green backdrop.
The enchanting undergrowth features many evergreen species including Aucuba japonica, Ligustrum japonicum, Laurus nobilis, and Bambusa mitis.
Everything contributes to conveying the fairytale charm of this garden.

This post is also available in: Italiano (Italian)