Villa Foscari (La Malcontenta)

Villa Foscari stands on the Brenta at Mira, the closest of the great villas to Venice, and it is Palladio at his most severe.

Built around 1555-60 for the brothers Nicolò and Alvise Foscari, it is one of the few villas he designed purely as a residence -- there are no barchesse, no farm wings, no working function. It exists to be lived in and looked at.

It sits on a tall podium with an Ionic portico reached by two flights of steps, facing the water. The raised base is not a stylistic flourish: the Brenta floods.

Everyone calls it La Malcontenta, and nobody is certain why.

This is a private house opened as a courtesy on a small number of days. Book where possible, keep to the published times, and stay with the guide.

The frescoes are sixteenth-century wall painting in a building without museum climate control. No flash, no touching, and no leaning on the walls.

Arriving by Brenta boat or bus rather than car keeps traffic off the canal road, which is narrow and residential.

Admission income is what maintains a privately held UNESCO property. It is the whole basis on which it stays open.

The villa is privately owned and opens on a limited schedule -- typically a couple of days a week in the warmer months, and closed for much of the winter.

Check before travelling, and book if booking is offered. This is not a villa you can turn up at.

It is at Mira, about 20 minutes from Venice by car or bus, and is the first major villa on the Brenta coming from the lagoon.

Allow an hour.

The interior is reached by the portico steps, and the historic floors are uneven -- accessibility is limited.

The Brenta boat excursions from Venice usually include it, which is both the easiest way to visit and the way the villa was meant to be approached.