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illa Manin in Passariano is not only the largest villa in North-eastern Italy, if not in the whole of Italy, it is also the best preserved, considering the complex as a whole. The villa was built for the Manin family which was exiled from Florence with Dante, finding new prosperity in Udine. Their wealth, reputation and influence was such that during the seventeenth century many members of the family held positions of the highest level in the Republic of Venice, and they were generous patrons of social and cultural activities. The Manins reached the peak of their power when they became Venetian nobles, acquiring their title by making a cash "donation" to Venice which would be equivalent to many billions of lire today. Their accession to the aristocracy marked the start of work on the villa.
The original part of the villa, dating from the seventeenth century, was enlarged around 1700 and took on its present shape, which is what makes it so unique among Veneto villas. Its huge proportions make it seem, to modern visitors, more like a Central European-style residence than a villa, yet it is truly a villa in the Italian sense of the word because it was intended to be a private country residence. The only, crucial, difference was that the family who owned it possessed almost incalculable wealth. Even when a Manin became the last Doge of Venice and stayed at the Villa from time to time, it never became the Doge's official residence and continued to be the family's private property. It has, in its own unique way, all the characteristics of the villas built in the territories governed by Venice and therefore gives us an excellent example of the "leisure" culture of the day while representing its high
point.
At the centre of the complex stands the imposing family residence, the style is typically Venetian but magnified out of all proportion. Here the main salon rises through three storeys and is illuminated by a series of five windows.
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A myriad of suites of rooms in the Baroque style lead off the salon, and during the eighteenth century it was enriched even further on the first floor with the addition of formal apartments served by staircases whose gigantic proportions now seem to modern eyes slightly ridiculous. One of the unique features of this building is the importance given to the ground floor rather than the piano nobile, as was usual at the time. In fact, the most sumptuous rooms are on the ground floor, thus demonstrating a desire to be in constant contact with the gardens, with Nature, which was unusual and more generally seen in hunting lodges which are, however, much smaller
buildings.
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Another sign of this 'openness' towards the outdoors are the two large side wings that extend from the central fabric and which were built according to the Renaissance ideal of the villa, which was seen as a
large, low construction. From this point the villa opened onto one of the most vast Baroque gardens in Italy some of whose features still
survive, in particular the extensive boundary wall. The rooms of the villa looked out over this huge park, a kaleidoscope of enchanting views that seem to stretch to infinity thanks to the optical axes created by the many straight
paths. Today this intimate relationship between the villa and its surrounding land can only be felt by standing in the main salon and gazing out towards the front and the back; the eye is drawn along the numerous avenues that fan out from this
point. The other intended axial points disappeared when the park was later restyled after the Romantic taste and numerous copses of trees were
planted. This is the layout still seen today.
Many things make Villa Manin part of the long, uncontaminated tradition of Veneto villas, amongst others the fact that part of the villa complex was devoted to the running of a large agricultural estate, existing, nonetheless, in harmony with the residential areas. The best known and most influential examples of this architectural genre belong to Palladio and many elements are found at Villa Manin. However, the overall effect is anything but Palladian. Here there are no simple countrified lines, there is no blending of agricultural and residential zones. Here an architectural statement is made: this is a grand residence designed for leisure and recreation. The difference between this and the Palladian villa is seen clearly, especially in the particularly long wings extending on either side of the main building. Palladio saw these colonnades as a passage, a link with the fields: but here there are no doors, no openings; on the contrary, they act as a demarcation line separating the area devoted to pomp and splendour from that of common labour. The fields cannot be reached via the inner courtyard so nothing will spoil the architectural vision of Baroque magnificence. |
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