NOT TO BE MISSED:

- Italian garden and greenery theater

- Residence for many years of the sculptor M.Berrocal

- Events and manifestations hosted in the villa

A few hundred meters from the center of Negrar, nestled at the foot of Mount Calcarole, stands Villa Rizzardi with its elegant Italian garden, one of the last to be commissioned, which every year attracts many enthusiasts and curious.

The Pojega estate was purchased by Count Carlo Rizzardi in the mid-seventeenth century: since the sixteenth century, in fact, the Negrar area was the subject of great interest for city land investments, due to its proximity to the center of Verona and the always mild climate.

At the time, however, the habit of vacationing in a villa was not yet widespread and, for this reason, rationality and functionality were preferred to artistic beauty in the construction of country residences.

The villa as it appears to us today is the result of a restoration which took place at the end of the nineteenth century, on a project by the architect Filippo Messedaglia, with references to the Venetian fifteenth century, forming a style that combines Baroque, Renaissance and Neoclassicism.

The importance of the complex is however given by the wonderful garden (called Giardino di Pojega): it was wanted by Antonio Rizzardi and conceived between 1783 and 1796 by the architect Luigi Trezza, who was inspired by the gardens of the Venetian tradition of the '500, creating a sophisticated Italian garden instead of the wooded English gardens so fashionable at the time.

During the visit, along the avenues at different altitudes, you will see enchanting panoramic points open on the estate, you will discover the picturesque greenery theater, the largest of its kind in Italy and a meeting and entertainment venue, the stalactite temple, the colorful citrus garden with two lemon groves, a wonderful nymphaeum and ... even a secret garden!

Walking through the paths of the garden you will feel the perfume and appreciate the colors of many flowers and plants: among the most interesting, cyclamen, snowdrops, violets, peppermint and buttercups.

Due to its particularity, the estate was inhabited by illustrious tenants: first Pietro Gazzola, architect known for the restoration of the bridges of the Pietra and Castelvecchio in Verona, destroyed during the German retreat in 1945, later Miguel Berrocal, eccentric Spanish sculptor who he established his studio and atelier here for a long time.

Today Villa Rizzardi is a place for receptions, weddings, banquets, exhibitions and cultural events.

In the photo: view of the Italian garden and of the villa.