Located along the slope of a hill and bounded upstream by a dense vegetation of ancient olive trees that frame it and protect it from the winds, the majestic, seventeenth-century Villa Allegri was purchased in 1824 by Giovanni Antonio Arvedi of Verona, in the hands of whose descendants find it still.
Villa Allegri Arvedi History
The history of Villa Arvedi dates back to 1200, when the house belonged to the illustrious family Dalla Scala. In 1400 Jacopo Dal Verme took possession of the villa and subsequently, in 1442, the Republic of Venice confiscated it and sold it together with all the remaining properties of Jacopo's rebel nephew, Alvise Dal Verme. It was later bought by the Allegri family, a very important and powerful family at the time. Over the years, the Allegri dynasty gradually lost its political and financial prestige, until in 1824 Lucrezia, last descendant of the Verona family, sold the villa to Giovanni Antonio Arvedi.
Towards the middle of 1650 this splendid Venetian villa took on its current appearance, designed by the architect Giovan Battista Bianchi. Villa Arvedi hosts in its majestic salons the frescoes and works of art by Ludovico Dorigny, Farinati, Fralezza and Santo Prunati. Outside there is the baroque church, also frescoed by Dorigny and dedicated to San Carlo Borromeo, who, it is said, was hosted here during the trip to Trento for the Council of 1548.
The garden was born as an elegant and sober ornament of the building, built in 1650 by the sculptor architect GB Bianchi: majestic the avenue leading from the entrance of the property to the villa, consisting of carefully pruned boxwoods in geometric shapes degrading, in order to force the perspective. Its baroque geometric shapes recall the style of the villa's facade, thus creating a harmonious whole. To the right of the garden is the grotto, or nymphaeum, a Baroque-style structure decorated with mosaics, shells and statues of figures and which serves as a winter garden.
Villa Arvedi is located a short distance from Verona and Lake Garda: today this Venetian villa, in addition to guided tours, hosts prestigious events in an atmosphere of unique charm.