The Project

Giornata delle Ville Venete

3rd edition 19 and 20 October 2024

A long weekend of events to discover and Experience the Villas of Veneto and Friuli

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.

Following on from the great success of the second edition which welcomed over 20,000 visitors in two days, the Association for the Venetian Villas and the Regional Institute for the Venetian Villas (IRVV) are pleased to announce the third edition of the event, which will take place on 18th, 19th and 20th October 2024, with the aim of pursuing the common goal of enhancing the historical, artistic, literary, agricultural and social heritage of our Venetian Villas. 

La 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.

It’s a journey that lets visitors discover “Life within the Villas” by transforming them from simple passive observers into active participants – “doing” and not just “seeing” – a transformation that only immersive experiences can provide. 

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 to give visitors insight into the Venetian Villas of yesterday, today and tomorrow. 

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.

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.

If we consider Palladio and his architectural concept of the Venetian Villa as a fabrica (workshop), it’s immediately clear the Villas were designed to serve as places for “doing”. Splendid summer residences, yes. But residences that served to produce food such as wheat, wine and cheese.
Since its inception, the Association of Venetian Villas has aimed to showcase the great heritage of the Villas spread across the Regions of Veneto and Friuli-Venezia Giulia. It seeks to communicate to the public – whose common perception of them regards the splendour of their architecture and artistic grandeur that adorns these assets set amid extraordinary landscapes, many still intact and uncontaminated today – that the Villas are living entities, and places of action. Precisely as they were in the past.
A past that reflected our own futures, because it’s becoming increasingly clear how essential it is to rethink our economy, our sense of community and our resources with a view to fostering true sustainability, and an approach which protects and respects our environment.
For us, protection and enhancement has always been an integral part of showing life within the Villas and offering experiences of the Villas.
Considering the origins of the Venetian Villas, it’s clear they were precursors to our current ideas: designed to be self-sufficient in space and time, centres of artisanal excellence, farming seasonal produce, safeguarding the surrounding landscape and the community that formed and gravitated around them.
It is with this spirit and our heartfelt commitment to the future that we organise the ‘Giornata delle Ville Venete’, offering a range of experiences that allow visitors to gain a genuine insight of life within the Villas.
We do this with a firm focus on our futures, because life in the Villas reconnects us with values and lifestyles the modern world increasingly feels the need for.
One of today’s greatest issues is psychological and physical well-being; we like to illustrate to visitors how life in the Villa can invigorate, rejuvenate and provide a source of traditional values that speak of hospitality, authenticity, the beauty of places, people and relationships.
Of community. Because the Venetian Villa has always been a place of sharing.

Isabella Collalto de Croÿ – President

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.

“Veneto is a region rich in history, nature, and scenery. Among the many “assets” to be found here, its Villas represent a hugely important testimony to a culture and landscape.
In the sixteenth century, Andrea Palladio contributed to making history by designing a series of villas which, with their focus on farming and landscape, and their “barchesse”, came to be recognised as a strong symbol of work and culture.
But not just Palladio. Because there are numerous Villas in many styles situated in locations extending from the Brenta Riviera to the Berici Hills, and from the Terraglio to province of Verona, and across to the Friuli region.
Broad-based initiatives aimed at the general public such as the ‘Giornata delle Ville Venete’ provide hugely important opportunities for deepening and imparting knowledge. And with knowledge comes enhanced sensitivity towards the needs to protect and to value.”

Prof. Amerigo Restucci – President

Veneto Segreto  is partnering with La Giornata delle Ville Venete 2024 to promote the Green experiences

Kidpass is partnering with of La Giornata delle Ville Venete 2024 to promote the  Family experiences

Divinea is partnering with La Giornata delle Ville Venete 2024 to promote the Wine experiences