The Project

Giornata delle Ville Venete

2nd edition 21 and 22 October 2023

A packed weekend to explore and experience the Venetian Villas

What can I expect?

Visitors can explore and gain a fascinating insight into the Venetian Villas through participation in a range of exclusive themed experiences that can be selected to meet personal interests or the area they wish to explore. The event will take place over an entire weekend.

Now in its second edition, the Giornata delle Ville Venete (Venetian Villas Weekend) promotes the Venetian Villas by showcasing their true identity as “Living Residences” – culturally unique properties without equal anywhere in the world.

A journey to discover “Life Within the Villas”, which sees visitors transformed from simple passive observers into active participants – “doing” and not just “seeing” – and focusses attention on the importance of experiences for providing real insight.

The Venetian Villas will reveal their histories, art, culture, architecture, craftsmanship and beauty of the nature that surrounds them through guided tours, walks, concerts, workshops, tastings, stays and many other experiences that will give visitors insight into the Venetian Villas of yesterday, today and tomorrow. 

In this second edition of the Giornata delle Ville Venete, we’ve included a “suggested itineraries” section to help you plan a day or even an entire weekend by creating your very own modern-day “Grand Tour”.

Themed experiences

HERITAGE: an exclusive experience showcasing the traditional, day-to-day activities conducted in a Venetian villa: a guided tour with the owner, a re-enactment in period costume, detailed stories with anecdotes from the family who own the Villa.

FAMILY: activities aimed at families and children, including workshops, treasure hunts, craft activities, and special visits for kids.

GREEN: activities organised outdoors and/or with sustainability as their theme. A visit to the gardens with an expert guide, autumn picnic, a photo shoot and more.

WINE&FOOD: activities that include wine or food as their theme. Many Venetian Villas still maintain their food and wine traditions through their winemaking, including winery visits, tastings of farm produce, vineyard tours, lunches, dinners, brunches and snacks which showcases the outstanding produce crafted in the Venetian Villas.

DREAM: a once-in-a-lifetime, fully immersive experience offering visitors the chance to stay in an exclusive Venetian Villa.

WELL-BEEING: The Venetian Villas enhance well-being; their beauty, graceful vistas and natural settings, provide a concentrated alchemy of holistic energy that helps us rediscover our psychological and physical balance.  Here you’ll find experiences that help you reconnect with yourself, such as meditation, yoga, digital detox, poetry readings, relaxing music, gong bath therapy, small-group cultural meetings.

GENERAZIONE Z: activities providing exclusive experience-based visits for schools, class groups, or groups of university students. Each Villa offers educational activities dedicated to students for all secondary school years up to university level.

Plan your own Giornata delle Ville Venete weekend (GVV) using our recommended itineraries

Whether you wish to dedicate a weekend to the GVV, or plan full day’s activities that combines several experiences in nearby Villas, browse our suggested itineraries.

Why an entire weekend dedicated to the Venetian Villas?

• To promote the identity and culture heritage of the Venetian Villas: unique, of immense importance, rich in history and incomparable to any other properties
• To combine the many themed experiences that can be enjoyed in the Venetian Villas in a single day
• To showcase what the Venetian Villas represent today – in the present – and the full range of services they can offer today’s visitors
• To utilise the Venetian Villa and the experiences on offer to help visitors enjoy rediscovering their inner balance through beauty
• To provide visitors with the opportunity to visit Venetian Villas in the exclusive company of their owners
• To increase the influx of tourists from Italy and neighbouring countries in low season
• To share the Venetian Villas not only from the standpoint of promoting them and providing visitors with knowledge of them, but also from a business initiative regarding the owners of Venetian Villas themselves

Institutions that have created and promoted the project

Association for Venetian Villas

The Association for Venetian Villas is a non-profit association, managed by owners and representatives of Venetian Villas. For over forty years, it has served to unite hundreds of Venetian Villas, by supporting, enhancing the value, communicating and providing insight into Life within the Venetian Villas. The Association for Venetian Villas is an Official Body, recognised by the IRVV and the Veneto Regional Council, which advises and supports the owners of Venetian Villas, allowing this important heritage to remain sustainable and accessible to future generations.
Through www.villevenetetour.it the Association promotes the Venetian Villas which are open to the public and through the website www.villevenetescuole.it it aims to support the dissemination and communication of the educational initiatives the Venetian Villas offer.

The project is promoted by the Regional Institute of Venetian Villas — IRVV

Following the fall of the Republic of Venice, the Venetian Villas experienced a long period of decline that would last until after the Second World War. Only in the 1950s did some Venetian intellectuals such as Giuseppe Mazzotti, Giovanni Comisso, Renato Cevese and Silvio Negro dedicate themselves to returning this extraordinary architectural, artistic and cultural heritage to its former prominence. Following their efforts, the State established the Venetian Villa Institutes in 1958 which, in 1979, was transformed into a Regional Institute. Since then, it has dedicated itself to the restoration, enhancement and cataloguing of the Villas in the regions of Veneto and Friuli. There are 4243 premises, with 3807 in the Veneto and 436 in Friuli-Venezia Giulia, distributed throughout the provinces of the two Regions and the catalogue is available online. 15% are owned by the public or ecclesiastical organisations, while the remaining 85% are privately owned. The Institute’s role in supporting their conservation, enhancement and promotion is constantly growing. This is always conducted in full collaboration with the owners, and has resulted in the completion of thousands of restoration works conducted directly or through the granting of financial support to the owners themselves.

Over the years, numerous important publishing projects have been carried out, including the publication of the Atlante del Veneto catalogue, catalogues of the Villas of the provinces of Veneto and Friuli-Venezia Giulia, and the cataloguing the frescoes housed in the Venetian Villas from the 16th to the 19th century, totalling 967 pictorial cycles.

Over 800 villas are open to the public. Together they make up a true “extended museum network” representing a precious cultural heritage of our past which everyone has a duty to safeguard and champion for the benefit of all.