National Museum of Villa Pisani

 The National Museum of Villa Pisani, on the Brenta Riviera, in Stra in the province of Venice, is one of the most visited cultural sites in the Veneto region.

The monumental villa, built in the first half of the 1700s, is nicknamed the Queen of Venetian villas. Its history is closely intertwined with European events between 1700 and 1800 and represents an interesting narration of the epochal changes of that period.

Wanted and designed by the Venetian Pisani di Santo Stefano family, the villa is an expression of the tastes and interests of the various owners who, after the fall of the Serenissima and the financial collapse of the Pisani family, were the protagonists: Napoleone Buonaparte, Eugenio Beauharnais; the Habsburgs, with the viceroy Ranieri, the Savoys and finally the Italian State.

Today the complex with its 14 hectares of extension, over 3,000 tall trees, splendid architecture and sculptures scattered in the greenery, its famous labyrinth, together with the eighteenth-century villa constitutes one of the most important attractions of the Brenta Riviera.

The grandiose project of the park was entrusted to the architect Girolamo Frigimelica who in 1721 created an articulated geometric composition, clearly inspired by the gardens of Versailles, characterized by a complex scenographic play, an expression of the grandeur required by the client. The protagonists of these perspective articulations are the small but extraordinary architectures scattered throughout the park: the artificial hill with the "Coffee House", the gardener's house and warehouse, the Belvedere portal, the labyrinth with its turret, the exedra, splendid and ephemeral architecture and the enchanting building of the Stables.

The project of the villa was instead entrusted to the architect. Francesco Maria Preti who built a building, similar to a royal palace, completed in 1756. Composed of 114 rooms in honor of Alvise Pisani, 114th Doge of the Serenissima, it covers an area of just under 5,000.00 square meters.

Inside there are frescoes, stuccos, architectural decorations, sculptures and original furnishings of great value from the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. Venice, France and Austria express their power, their taste and their culture in this residence: three different components that dialogue in the same environments, perfectly mixed, expressions of different cultures but characterized by love for art.

Among the masterpieces preserved here, the famous ceiling fresco “The Apotheosis of the Pisani family” stands out in the splendid ballroom, the last work by Giambattista Tiepolo made in Italy.