Villa Serego Historical Timeline

Origins

The Serego were a Veronese noble family with land in Valpolicella, and the villa was commissioned as the centre of a working agricultural estate rather than as a retreat.

Turning points

Palladio produced the design in the 1560s and published it in the Quattro Libri dell'Architettura in 1570 -- so the intended building is known in full, which makes the fragment that exists unusually legible.

Influential people

Construction stopped with only part of the scheme complete. The reasons were the usual ones -- money and a change in the family's circumstances -- and the house was never resumed.

Cultural evolution

What stands was adapted and used as a farm building for centuries, which is both why it survived and why it is worn.

Present-day significance

It was inscribed with the other Palladian villas as part of the UNESCO World Heritage site covering Vicenza and the villas of the Veneto, and the surrounding estate produces Valpolicella wine.