Riviera del Brenta

The Riviera del Brenta is the stretch of the Naviglio del Brenta, the canalised Brenta river, running roughly thirty kilometres between Venice and Padua. From the 16th century the Venetian patriciate built country estates along it -- not a royal court, since the Republic had no monarchy, but merchant families converting trading fortunes into land as Venice's maritime income declined.

The canal was the point. A villa here could be reached from San Marco by burchiello, a towed passenger barge, in a few hours, which made these working farms close enough to double as summer residences. Andrea Palladio and the architects who followed him designed them as agricultural estates first and status symbols second, with barns and granaries built into the same composition as the owner's rooms.

Some fifty villas survive along the route, of which a handful open to the public. Villa Pisani at Stra is the largest -- over a hundred rooms, of which around thirty are open, a Tiepolo ceiling in the ballroom, and a hedge maze in the grounds. Villa Foscari, known as La Malcontenta, is the more architecturally significant: one of Palladio's purest surviving designs, and part of the UNESCO listing covering his Veneto villas.

The route can be travelled by canal boat, by bicycle along the towpath, by bus, or by car.

Villa Pisani and Villa Foscari (La Malcontenta) are historic properties that depend on ticket revenue for upkeep -- visiting the interiors, not just photographing the exteriors from the road, more directly supports their conservation.

Cycling or taking the boat along the Naviglio del Brenta spreads visitor traffic more gently across the villages of the riviera than a single coach tour stopping only at the best-known villa.

The Riviera del Brenta runs between Venice and Padua and is reachable by canal boat cruise (the Burchiello and similar operators), by bicycle along the towpath, by car, or by regional bus.

Individual villas, including Villa Pisani at Stra and Villa Foscari, keep their own separate hours and admission fees and are frequently closed on Mondays -- checking each villa's own schedule before setting out is worthwhile, since opening days vary property to property.