A: Towards the middle of the sixteen century, when the architect Andrea Palladio (1505-1580) designed his first villas, Venice had already consolidated its expansion onto terraferma, the hinterland, not only for defensive but also for economic and commercial purposes.
For Venetian nobles agriculture was now a profitable alternative to maritime traffics, weakened by the expansion of the Ottoman Empire and the development of new shipping routes after the discovery of America.
Nobles turned their country houses, places of leisure, study and rest, into efficient and productive farms. Palladio was the skilled interpreter of their needs. By combining the owner's house with the outbuildings, he created a unique and harmonious whole, taking into consideration the relationship between villa and the surrounding landscape, functionality and aesthetics, mathematical rigor, local agricultural tradition and ancient architecture.
Wheat was the most important cultivation, but there were minor cereals, such as rye, sorghum and millet, legumes and vegetables. Spanish ships brought potatoes and maize from America. The latter was called granturco, the word turco, meaning Turk, was used to indicate a foreigner, and became a staple food crop for the poorer farmers.
Rice was profitable but its cultivation was not encouraged in this period because it required large expanses of land, a lot of manpower and flooded fields favoured mosquitoes.
Mulberries were cultivated for silkworm and hemp for the production of textiles.
Olive groves extended from Asolo to the Lake of Garda, but oil was exported, while local people used animal fat in cooking. Fruit trees, such as apples, figs and cherry trees, were cultivated in the brolo, the orchard, which was a productive and ornamental space.
The best wine was exported; white vines generally came from the hills while red wines from the plain. One of the traditional methods of cultivation was the alberata, when vine was 'married' to other trees, such as maples, elms, ash and mulberry tree. From one to three plants of vine were planted around a tree and grew freely for the first years, than they were pruned keeping just two or three shoots that were festooned with those of other vines. Roses planted at the head of the rows of vines helped to detect disease, as roses got ill before the vines.
For Venetian nobles agriculture was now a profitable alternative to maritime traffics, weakened by the expansion of the Ottoman Empire and the development of new shipping routes after the discovery of America.
Nobles turned their country houses, places of leisure, study and rest, into efficient and productive farms. Palladio was the skilled interpreter of their needs. By combining the owner's house with the outbuildings, he created a unique and harmonious whole, taking into consideration the relationship between villa and the surrounding landscape, functionality and aesthetics, mathematical rigor, local agricultural tradition and ancient architecture.
Wheat was the most important cultivation, but there were minor cereals, such as rye, sorghum and millet, legumes and vegetables. Spanish ships brought potatoes and maize from America. The latter was called granturco, the word turco, meaning Turk, was used to indicate a foreigner, and became a staple food crop for the poorer farmers.
Rice was profitable but its cultivation was not encouraged in this period because it required large expanses of land, a lot of manpower and flooded fields favoured mosquitoes.
Mulberries were cultivated for silkworm and hemp for the production of textiles.
Olive groves extended from Asolo to the Lake of Garda, but oil was exported, while local people used animal fat in cooking. Fruit trees, such as apples, figs and cherry trees, were cultivated in the brolo, the orchard, which was a productive and ornamental space.
The best wine was exported; white vines generally came from the hills while red wines from the plain. One of the traditional methods of cultivation was the alberata, when vine was 'married' to other trees, such as maples, elms, ash and mulberry tree. From one to three plants of vine were planted around a tree and grew freely for the first years, than they were pruned keeping just two or three shoots that were festooned with those of other vines. Roses planted at the head of the rows of vines helped to detect disease, as roses got ill before the vines.
Photos:
Villa Barbaro, Maser, TravelinaGarden, June 2019
Rose and vines, Venissa Wine Resort, Island of Mazzorbo, Venice, TravelinaGarden, September
2019
Further reading:
Gianni Moriani, Palladio architetto della villa fattoria, Verona, Cierre edizioni, 2008
View of Villa Barbaro, Maser: central block flanked by two symmetrical barchesse, agricultural outbuildings, and colombare, dovecots
Detail from the Nympheum, Villa Barbaro, Maser
Vines and roses, Venissa Wine Resort, Island of Mazzorbo, Venice
View of the countryside, Villa Barbaro, Maser
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