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HISTORY

The Villa De Marchi Corà now owned by the Grassi family has been the subject of a progressive architectural restoration since 2009, which has seen the main body being reborn, with the enhancement of part of the outbuildings and the surrounding environment. Currently the restoration work concerns the imposing rustic buildings, still owned by the family Corà, including the barchessa and the colombaia, placed on the bottom of the inner courtyard. and the floor of the Villa dedicated a time to granary with the particular attic in Stone of Nanto

TODAY’S RESTORATION

The Villa De Marchi, Corà is now owned by the Grassi family who in 2009 restored the main body. Currently the restoration work concerns the various rustic and agricultural parts of the complex, especially in the barn or attic of the main body and in the dovecote, placed on the bottom of the inner courtyard.

VILLA

The rural complex is now a large farmhouse consisting of a Sunday building on the street and a farm courtyard behind it that gives access to a set of rustic buildings placed in the background.
The villa is characterized by its austere and imposing exterior facades. Two maps dated 1673 and 1777 clarify how the prospectuses were presented after the interventions of Antonio Francesco Olivieri.

DETAILS

The facades were enriched by a series of bands that surrounded the whole building placed at the level of the balconies of the windows, as marcapiani. These mouldings, together with other architectural elements such as shelves and false balustrades in the window frames of the first floor of the villa, created a design and ornamental pattern that developed both horizontally and vertically. The maps also show some towers crowning the corners of the roof, which are also confirmed by the building’s plans, which present this clear structure even in the delimitation of the corner rooms.
It is possible, therefore, to deduce that the whole intervention is attributable to a single project by Antonio Francesco Olivieri, client of the Villa, who although a lawyer, was also involved in architecture, expressing this inclination of the design of this property.

granary

The Granary of the Villa, on the second floor, has a “H” plan, with large square central rooms and four corner dressing rooms with circular ceiling, decorated with panicles; it served mostly as a warehouse for food and during the Second World War, Also a dormitory.

attic

The attic, on the third floor, is now as if it was built in the sixteenth century, probably in the architectural version of the building after that in which the side towers stood out. Today the roof is still supported by a single vertical beam (called Monaco), on which all the trusses of the trusses converge, so as to form a kind of ray. The roof covering is supported on large slabs of Stone Nanto, mounted with interlocking male/ female and equipped with shells, obtained with particular concave processing, to drain water towards the external frame.
Today the barn and the attic are recovered to host an exhibition on the history of the Villa, its agricultural functions and the rural life that was conducted there.

barn

The structure of the barchessa is a unique example of rural architecture in Vicentino. The building has a brick floor located just over one metre below the country floor, with function of wine cellar.

DETAILS

The main feature, however, is the wide roof of the Stone Vault, illuminated by single-fore strombate, also in Nanto stone, on the south wall. The partial burial and small windows allow to keep the cellar cool in summer and mild in winter, ideal for storing wine. The barchessa is a rare example of a combination of aesthetics and functionality.

DOVECOTE

At the south-west corner of the barchessa stands a tower dovecote circular plan, atypical structure for the territory of Vicenza, being the colombaie usually square.

DETAILS

It is decorated with mouldings and single-fronted windows in Nanto stone which embellish the façade. In particular, a window engraved the year 1642 to testify to the historicity and structure and agricultural functionality of the complex.

LA LINEA DEL TEMPO

XIV sec.

Gothic preexisting buildings and walled arches on the ground floor and first floor testify to the existence of an important manor house in the current site of Villa Corà.

1554

The brothers Antonio Francesco and Vicenzo Olivieri split up the family estate: Antonio Francesco acquired the properties in Bosco di Nanto, which he then expanded by buying from Mr. Valerio Spinelli of an important building in the contrada San Salvatore, restored by himself.

1557

They were taken over from the construction sites with the work of stone killers (workers of the Stone) in the property Olivieri di Bosco di Nanto.

1559

The term Palazzone was used in that of Bosco di Nanto as toponym of Villa Olivieri.

1570

Published in Venice The Four Books of Architecture by Andrea Palladio. As a testimony of the importance of the Villa, in the proemio of this great work (p. 5) it reads: "... Mr Antonio Francesco Olivieri, who ... is an excellent Architect and Poet, as he demonstrated in his Alemana poem in heroic verse, and in a factory of his own in the woods of Nanto, place of Vicenza".

1630

Girolamo di Paolo Olivieri sold the villa to Anna Sesso, widow of Benedetto Porto, family owners until about the middle of the nineteenth century.

1834

In the Austrian Cadastre, the owners of the villa are the brothers Giuseppe and Luigi Savioli. Probably during the early nineteenth century, following a period of abandonment, disappeared most of the decorations placed on the facades.

1957

In the registers of the Italian Cadastre, it is recorded as owner from 1957 to 1966 De Marchi Fioravante, was Giuseppe

1966

After the war, the house housed the Corà family, who ran the farm for the owners De Marchi. In the following decades, four families came to live together. In 1966, the head of one of these families, Mr. Angelo Corà, bought the whole complex. The Villa will be inhabited until 1978.

2001

Francesco Grassi diventava proprietario della Villa, la quale non era più abitabile, mentre gli annessi rustici ed i campi rimanevano di proprietà dei figli di Angelo Corà, Gianfranco e Silvano.

2009

Francesco Grassi, who has become an architect, started the restoration work of the villa, with a respectful recovery of the particular rural architecture, to be able to live in it from 2011 with his family.

2024

The restoration of agricultural outbuildings with the enhancement of surrounding land has been carried out. The restoration of the Villa continues, making the second floor and the attic usable.

GALLERY

Browse the gallery, you will find some of the environments of the peasant culture of the last century.

EVENTS

On special occasions the villa and the annexed buildings will be open to visitors. Guided tours can be organized upon reservation.

Contacts

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Villa Corà is located in Bosco di Nanto (VI), in via Stona 16