Villa della Torre Historical Timeline

Origins

The villa was built in the middle of the sixteenth century for the Della Torre, a Veronese family of standing, as a country house on their Valpolicella estate.

Turning points

Its design has been associated with Giulio Romano and with Michele Sanmicheli, the Veronese architect and military engineer. The attribution is not settled, but the Mannerist temperament of the building -- learned, deliberately unsettling, full of quotation and inversion -- belongs firmly to that circle.

Influential people

The atrium plan is a piece of archaeological reconstruction: an educated sixteenth-century attempt to build what Vitruvius described, at a moment when the ancient house was being rediscovered through texts rather than excavation.

Cultural evolution

The villa passed through a succession of owners, was damaged, and served agricultural uses before being restored.

Present-day significance

It is now owned by a wine company, restored, and open to visitors -- so the building can be seen alongside the Amarone made on the estate around it.