Villa Malenchini, Baroque villa in Carignano, Italy

Villa Malenchini is a baroque villa on Strada Cava in Vigatto in Carignano, a hamlet of Parma. Its rectangular central body from the late 16th century has two narrower side wings added between the late 18th and early 19th centuries. The south facade has a rococo arched portal with a mixtilinear pediment and a balustraded sandstone terrace. The 15-hectare park extends south toward Felino with a 1.5 km hedge-lined avenue.

The central body of the villa was built between the late 16th and early 17th centuries for the Lampugnani marquises, who were feudal lords of Carignano and Felino from 1650 and commissioned frescoes from Cesare Baglioni. In the late 17th century the physician Giuseppe Cervi bought the property, expanded it and enlarged the park; after his death in 1748 it passed to his sister Rosa, whose daughter Orsola Robiani married Giuseppe Maria Corradi, and in 1795 the Corradi Cervi family was granted the title of marquises. In 1808 the villa was sold to Camillo and Alessandro Zileri, and in 1895 Count Edilio Raggio gave it to his daughter Eletta Fortunata, known as Fortuny, on her marriage to Marquis Luigi Malenchini, whose family still owns it.

The name Malenchini comes from Luigi Malenchini of Livorno, who married Fortuny Raggio in 1895 and received the villa as a wedding gift. Since 2005 the estate has hosted the gastronomy event "De Gustibus"; in 2010 its fifth edition displayed unpublished 17th-century drawings lent by the Biblioteca Palatina.

The villa stands in the northern part of the park, on Strada Cava in Vigatto 2 in Carignano; the 1.5 km avenue runs south from the facade toward Felino. The grounds cover 15 hectares, so plan for a long walk between the chapel, the nymphaeum, the pond and the tree collections. The estate is private and opens for weddings and cultural events such as De Gustibus.

The park's central avenue runs 1.5 km, flanked by hedges clipped into rounded or cubic shapes; at its far end a double row of poplars frames the Felino hills and the Castello di Felino. The avenue is not lined with cypresses, as is often assumed.