Villa Baglioni, 17th-century villa in Massanzago, Italy
Villa Baglioni is a 17th-century residence in Massanzago whose architect remains unknown. Its two-storey central block and single-storey side wings carry arched ground-floor and piano nobile openings framed by different male and female mascheroni, while the top floor has plain rectangular windows except the central one. A low wall with three openings, each flanked by two statues, stands before the facade.
The Baglioni family purchased the property in 1718 and commissioned extensive renovations carried out by Giovanni Battista Baglioni and his son Giovanni Antonio. These transformations gave the house its current appearance and artistic decoration.
The family chapel, the Oratorio of the Beata Maria Vergine del Rosario, closes the villa's eastern front. Above the door, within a broken pediment, an angel holds a parchment with no inscription, flanked by two low-relief angels carrying the symbols of the Passion: a cross on the left, a ladder and nails on the right. Inside, a marble altar holds three statues: Prudence trampling a serpent, the Virgin and Child at the centre, and veiled Faith with a chalice and cross. In 1825 the chapel served as the parish church, and in 1881 the Baglioni obtained permission from the Bishop of Treviso to celebrate Mass there daily. On 4 November the war dead are commemorated in the oratory.
The building operates as the town hall and maintains regular hours for visitors during weekdays. Guided tours can be arranged by request to see the interior rooms and their artistic decoration.
The rear facade repeats the front but adds serliana openings between the central block and the wings, named after architect Sebastiano Serlio. In the rear niches stand Minerva on the right and a barely visible Mars on the left. The last three openings on the right wing are framed by horse heads, marking the entrance to the stables.
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