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

The estate of Villa Pompei Sagramoso extends over approximately 60 hectares of woodland, vineyards and olive groves, just outside the town of Illasi. The villa in its current form dates back to 1685 when the XVI century section was swallowed up by the imposing main building and a seventeenth-century construction was built to form the left-hand wing. Further buildings were then added to mark out the courtyard of honour.

A very long avenue begins to the east, lined with cypress trees; it still rises straight up to the top of the hill that was home to Illasi’s Scaligero Castle. In 1830, Count Antonio Pompei created a huge garden on the slopes of the hill, designed in keeping with landscaping trends of the time, in which the ruins of the ancient fortress became a focal point; as a passionate botanist, he then enriched it with countless species of trees, including many with exotic origins.

To the south of the villa, he built Moorish-style greenhouses and a formal garden, decorated with fountains and water features. Thanks to careful maintenance by the owners, the gardens still extend through magnificent vineyards, under the watchful eye of the ruined castle.

This post is also available in: Italiano (Italian)