The Hotel Antico Mulino is just 15 minutes from Treviso, a delightful city enclosed by 16th century walls with medieval alleys in its historic center and crossed by the Sile and Cagnan, crystal clear rivers with flowing spring waters providing picturesque views of the stately homes and historic palaces mirrored within them. Don’t miss the Casa dei Carraresi, the site of art exhibits of international importance.

Venice

In few minutes by train, visitors will find themselves immersed in the historic heart of Venice. From Santa Lucia station, walk or take a vaporetto to experience truly unique emotions among the enchanting narrow lanes and fascinating canals leading to Venice’s most beautiful and most famous sites: St. Mark’s square, the Rialto bridge, the Grand Canal, the Gallerie dell’Accademia, etc.

Padua

One of the most attractive and elegant cities in Veneto, situated just 30 minutes from the Hotel Antico Mulino, Padua is renowned for its historic squares: Piazza delle Erbe, Piazza della Frutta and Piazza dei Signori. The splendid Prato della Valle is one of Europe’s largest squares. Don’t miss: the Cappella degli Scrovegni, with frescoes by Giotto, and the Basilica di Sant’Antonio da Padova.

From the Hotel Antico Mulino, it’s just a few kilometers to arrive at the foot of the wine-producing hills, then enjoy the route which takes visitors along the crests of the hills, with a procession of vineyards unfurling from one town to another, each steeping in history, tradition and art, such as San Pietro di Feletto with its Romanesque 12th century church, and Conegliano, a charming hamlet at the foot of the hills with its pleasant promenade under the shade of the porticoes in Contrada Granda, overlooking ancient noble palaces.

A stopover at the magnificently restored Castello di Collalto at Susegana, and the spectacular Castello dei Brandolini at Cison di Valmarino are an absolute must, perhaps in the springtime when the events organized for the Primavera del Prosecco further embellish the beautiful halls of the castles.

As for prestigious wines, red radicchio (chicory) has the honor of having a route (strada) dedicated to it, crossing through the countryside between the localities of Scorzè, Treviso and Castelfranco, amidst the towns and fields that are also home to Villas of Veneto of ancient memory, and surprising nature parks safeguarding the special environments created by the river Sile and its crystal clear spring waters.

From the Hotel Antico Mulino, visitors can follow an ideal tour which winds its way from Zero Branco, to see the elegant 17th century Villa Guidini, the home of the Consortium for the Protection of Radicchio, along to Badoere with its spectacular Rotonda, the grandiose Barchessa which plays host to a recurrent typical antiques market, arriving at Cavasagra and its stunning Villa Corner della Regina, descending then on to Quinto di Treviso for a stop at the Oasi naturalistica di Cervara, situated in the Parco Naturale del Sile, passing in front of the airport of Treviso and finally ending at Treviso, a delightful city of water and art with its intact medieval alleys and calm river creating pictoresque views along its journey through the city.

Colour and light, poetry and pathos.

Man and God.

The sense of nature and history, humanity and faith are mingled in narrating the stories of the Virgin Mary and Christ in a unique way.

Giotto completed the frescoes in the Chapel at the beginning of 1305.

At that time: “…the chapel presents very simple architecture: a rectangular hall with a barrel vault, an elegant gothic triple lancet window on the façade, tall, narrow windows on the southern

wall, and a polygonal apse, later raised to contain the belfry”.

The frescoes follow three main themes :

episodes in the lives of Joachim and Anna (1-6)

episodes in the Virgin Mary’s life (7-13)

episodes recounting Christ’s life and death

The lower parts of the walls contain a series of frescoes illustrating Vices and Virtues in allegory.

It represents the heights of 18th century architecture when the splendour of the baroque blended with the harmony of

classicism on a par with great palaces like Versailles or Caserta. The construction of the main body began in 1720 on a project by Gerolamo Frigimelica, commissioned by noblemen Alvise and Almorò Pisani. After Frigimelica’s death, the work of building the grandiose complex was entrusted to Francesco Maria Preti, a young architect to whom the villa owes its present aspect. In the interior, most of the 114 rooms feature their original furnishings and are richly decorated with statues, stuccowork and frescoes commissioned from the great masters of the epoch, artists like Fabio Canal, Jacopo Guarana, Jacopo Amigoni, Andrea Urbani, Andrea Brustolon, Andrea Celesti, Gaspare Diziani, and many others. Reigning over them all is the name of Gian Battista Tiepolo who, in the ballroom, between 1760 and 1762 realised – together with the quadraturist Giovanni Mengozzi Colonna, his irreplaceable collaborator – one of the masterpieces of 18th century Venetian art, the Glory of the Pisani Family. The extensive park is a world apart, with groups of sculptures and features such as the coffeehouse, the exedra, the folly, the icehouse, the lemon-house and the stables that mirror the proportions of the main house. The villa has accommodated many famous guests in the course of its long history, from Napoleon, who became its proprietor in 1807, to Mussolini and Hitler who met here for the first time in 1934. Here too Gabriele D’Annunzio found the inspiration for the maize scene described in his novel The Fire. The garden of Villa Pisani has been awarded in the 2008 edition of the competition for ‘The most beautiful garden in Italy’.

wayside inns where ir was possible to sup and lodge for the night, there were posting stations and ‘locks’ as the boats were raised or lowered with the water-level on the way upstream or down. By the end of 1400, to have a villa on the

banks of the river and to enjoy the summer season with friends and relations or Vip strangers was a great status symbol. Renowned architects and famous painters were engaged, from Palladio to Count Fringimelica,

from Scamozzi to Longhena, Zelotti to Giannantonio Pellegrini, Tiepolo, Guarana, and Zais. A countri villa’s visula impact, including its lodges and gardens, had to be strong, indeed it had to strike the visitors and travellers by its

extraordinary artistic and natural beauty harmoniously merging with the architectural features.