The Frescoes of Villa Widmann

Following the architectural tradition of the Venetian Villas, Villa Widmann consists of a fully furnished Dominical House and a majestic Barchessa.

By accessing the Dominican House, after the entrance, you step into the central hall of the Villa, a real gem completely covered with frescoes.

Here in 1765 Giuseppe Angeli, inspired by the master Giambattista Piazzetta, opted for a fresh and soft wall painting.

The surfaces of the room are covered with ornaments and figurations: beautifully painted flowers and fruit follow one another to model themselves in the most varied volutes by the artist Gerolamo Mengozzi Colonna.

The white frames with roccocò motifs full of volutes, shells and rabeschi enclose the backgrounds, the figurative frames and frame doors and windows.

Thanks to a skilful arrangement of images and glimpses of the sky, the decorative squares enlarge the space and at the same time give it an elegant and elegant imprint.

There are two mythological scenes that welcome us in the Salon: on the right wall, we meet the Rat of Elena

The scene is described as Paride lifts Helen to take her to the ship that is about to set sail. The clear and decisive sign serves to underline the dynamism of the scene, while the bright colors give a joyful atmosphere.

On the opposite wall welcomes us the sacrifice of Iphigenia, a painting dominated by the central figure of Iphigenia ready to be sacrificed by her father Agamemnon.

In a game of diagonals that build the structure of the fresco, the figures seem motionless, waiting for a signal from the goddess Diana, while slowly a doe is walking, ready to take the place of the innocent Iphigenia.

On the ceiling, the Widmann family glorifies itself with characters and symbols linked to Greek mythology... Nature, the better life smiles at the Widmans...

The fulcrum of the compositional lines, a winged figure, under the gaze of "Merit" that tends towards "Truth", holds the Widmann symbols: a crescent moon and a lily...

... Juno holds peacocks, symbol of immortality.

In a second floor the four seasons with their bodies almost hint at a highly symbolic circular movement.

On the walls, above the gallery, there are intense decorations with colors tending to green. Here, the skillful use of chiaroscuro creates very suggestive three-dimensional optical effects

Scenes from ancient history are represented...

Above the Rape of Helen, we find Coriolanus and his mother (cf. Titus Livius, 2, 40),

Following the clockwise direction we meet, Muzio Scevola places his hand on the brazier (cf. Titus Livius, 2, 12),

Marco Curzio on horseback in the act of throwing himself into the chasm (cf. Titus Livius, 7, 6)

and Darius defeated by Alexander (cf. Titus Livius, 9, 17).

In the part below the gallery there are the personifications of the four continents then known: Europe with its crown, palette and eagle,

Asia with the incense censer and camel,

America with an Indian with an arrow in his hand

And Africa with the lion crouched down.

In the monochromes of the over-door of the party hall are represented Prudence,

The Truth,

Abundance

And Continence.

In the ceiling of the Banquet Hall we meet today Diana with cupids, attributed to the Venetian Francesco Zugno (1709-1787), who was originally on the ceiling of the staircase.

"Painting is essentially colour" is perfectly suited to the splendid frescoes of Villa Widmann

Girolamo Mengozzi Colonna and Giuseppe Angeli literally gave life to the walls of the Salone delle Feste, with bright colours and scenes full of pathos that remain in the memories of our visitors.