Ca' Zenobio, Venetian villa in Santa Bona, Treviso, Italy
Ca' Zenobio is a Venetian villa in Santa Bona, Treviso, on Via Santa Bona Nuova. Its main building began as a square block with a central hall on the ground floor, repeated on the upper floors. In the 1744 renovation, two single-storey side wings were added, each topped by a terrace.
The complex appears in forms close to today's in a 1680 map, recorded as the property of Don Domenico Biscaro. In 1744 Sebastiano Uccelli bought it and carried out a major renovation, adding the barchessa and rebuilding the private oratory. Count Verità Zenobio held it from 1779 into the 1780s, giving the villa the name it still bears.
The ground-floor Music Hall was frescoed in the 1720s by Venetian painter Gregorio Lazzarini, teacher of Giambattista Tiepolo. Eros sits at the centre of the ceiling, while paired lovers from myth and epic, such as Hercules and Omphale, appear on the walls. The name Ca' Zenobio comes from Count Verità Zenobio, owner from 1779.
The villa reopened to the public on 21 June 2021, when the Fondazione Cassamarca gave access to a 1.2-hectare area with the historic park and the Sala della Musica. The grounds were planned around young visitors, with a children's bookshop, a playroom and a music room, and a museum of Treviso sport was planned; the city theatre archive was to move there. Visits combine outdoor paths with decorated ground-floor rooms.
The frescoes in the barchessa were created by Francesco Fontebasso using trick-of-the-eye techniques to portray historical events across large walls. These illusions make flat surfaces appear to have depth and dimension, creating an almost sculptural quality on painted walls.
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