Villa Caldogno

About the museum

Around 1565 Angelo Caldogno, a Vicentine aristocrat, established his country residence in this villa, built to a design by Andrea Palladio. An inscription with the date MDLXX shows that the building was complete in 1570, including the extensive fresco decorations of the piano nobile. The villa does not appear in the Quattro libri dell'architettura, but it is considered an autograph work by the architect. It remained in the family for more than three centuries: in 1867 it passed by inheritance to the sister of the last male descendant, Pier Angelo Caldogno.

In the 1930s it was sold to Ettore Nordera, who founded a children's institution for disadvantaged children there. In 1944 the whole complex was requisitioned by the German army, which set up a health command there and had a reinforced-concrete bunker built behind the barchesse (farm outbuildings), six metres deep, with rooms for sick and wounded people and operating theatres. In 1987 the Comune di Caldogno bought the property, and restorations began in 1994, completed in 2016 for the villa, the basements, the frescoes and the park.

The interiors preserve rich painted decoration, in the loggia, the central hall and the rooms on the west side, due mainly to Giovanni Fasolo, Giovanni Battista Zelotti and Giulio Carpioni. Since 1996 the villa has been part of the UNESCO World Heritage. The bunker, renovated between 2007 and 2009 and again after the 2010 flood, now hosts a permanent exhibition on the history and original use of the spaces.

Highlights

• Piano nobile with frescoes by Giovanni Fasolo, Giovanni Battista Zelotti and Giulio Carpioni
• Basement with the Palladian hydraulic system
• German bunker of 1943–1944 with permanent exhibition
• Barchessa and garden
• UNESCO World Heritage since 1996

Permanent exhibition

• Bunker di Caldogno – Dalla prima guerra mondiale al 1945 – The semi-underground German bunker, renovated, houses a permanent exhibition on the history of the period and the original use of the spaces.

Operated by

Comune di Caldogno (visite a cura della Pro Loco Caldogno)

Visitors per year

approx. 1,200

Admission & discounts

The €10 ticket is the single Villa Caldogno + Bunker ticket; group prices for ordinary visits are €9 (villa and bunker), €6 (villa only) and €4 (bunker only). Payment in cash, by card or Satispay at the ticket office.

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Amenities & dining

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Events & venue rental

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