Villa Molin, Renaissance villa in Mandria, Italy

Villa Molin is a Renaissance residence in Mandria with a square floor plan, a high rusticated base, and an Ionic portico facing the Canale di Battaglia. The building has been preserved through multiple restorations while maintaining its original architectural details.

Venetian architect Vincenzo Scamozzi designed this residence in 1597 for Nicolò Molin, a nobleman from the Republic of Venice. The property reflects the classical design language of the High Renaissance in the Venetian region.

The central hall is frescoed with trompe-l'œil niches, columns and balustrades, rising through the roof as a lantern lit by tripartite lunette windows. Smaller rooms keep Rococo stucco vaults from the restoration under Antonio Capodilista after 1768. The walled gardens were replanted with boxwood-edged beds by Igino Kofler in 1955.

Villa Molin stands on the public towpath along the Canale di Battaglia, so its Ionic portico and the lanterna of the central sala can be seen from the road without entering. The walled gardens replanted with boxwood-edged beds by Igino Kofler in 1955 lie behind the house. The interior, with its Rococo stucco ceilings, is not a regularly open museum.

The armistice of 3 November 1918 was signed not here but at the adjoining Villa Giusti, after days of negotiations held at Villa Molin, which served as a military command headquarters in World War I. The villa's loggia over the Canale di Battaglia has no stairs down to the water, so it works as an open belvedere rather than an entrance.