Villa Elodia is an architectural complex dating back to the mid-seventeenth century while the interior style dates back to the neoclassical period, to the early nineteenth century. The Villa, located in the center of the village and well defended by a high crenellated wall that runs around it, could date back to the second half of the seventeenth century, but it is not unlikely to be older.
Villa Elodia History
The Napoleonic land registry in 1811 attributes its ownership to the Redolfi, landowners of Trivignano. Called "home with court of their own home", it was probably a manor house with features different from those of today. In 1821 Francesco Redolfi sold the entire property to the noble Domenico Rubini. The Rubies, noble Venetians since 1646, had settled in Friuli since the mid-eighteenth century, where they owned spinning mills and traded in fabrics and precious silks that exported to Vienna, capital of the empire. Dominic started the enlargement of the whole complex, ennobling the villa according to the aesthetic and cultural inspirations that had established themselves among the nobility and rich bourgeoisie of Venice since the days of Palladio.
The main facade of the villa has clear elements of neoclassical origin: the Doric pilasters that frame the central body, the tympanum with the central rose surrounded by three statues, the stone staircase with double ramp leading to the main floor: all elements that recall the taste neoclassical, derived from the interpretation of the Palladian dictates diffused between the nobility of the province of Udine and the border areas with Veneto between the eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries.
The central hall in pure "empire" style is embellished with elegant Ionic columns and a refined statue of a woman, probably coming from Canova's "workshop". On the sides of the living room, in a symmetrical position, are the living rooms and the dining room. All the rooms are embellished with Murano chandeliers and original furniture.
Domenico also extended the rural buildings and built the cellars for the conservation of wheat and corn, the crushing of wine and the silkworm breeding, in line with the economic approach that the Venetian patricians had from the beginning given to the their villas in dry land: the "barchesse" (ie the buildings for mainly rural use) had in fact a development and importance not inferior to those of the main building.
At the death of the count, which occurred in 1848, the property was divided between his sons Pietro, Luigia, Carlo and Caterina and the estate of Trivignano passed into property to Carlo, who permanently lived there with his wife Emma Forbes, English opera singer, and three daughters.
Carlo probably promoted new interventions that mainly concerned the park. In the inventory in death of Domenico a garden is described, located between the villa and the "brolo", with characteristics similar to those of the Italian Renaissance, where the space was divided into compartments of geometric shapes surrounded by box hedges, with within flowering plants, roses and statues.
The family bonds of the Rubies suggest an intervention by the architect Andrea Scala in the design of this park: in 1843, in fact, Luigia, Carlo's sister, married Gian Battista, brother of the famous architect Andrea Scala. The existing documentation tells us of various interventions by La Scala on the family's projects: the garden and park of Villa Rubini in Spessa di Cividale owned by Pietro, the garden of the Udinese residence of Gabriele Pecile, husband of his sister Caterina, and the barchessa of the Villa Costantini Scala in Mereto di Capitolo.
On Carlo's death, the estate passed to his eldest daughter Marion, who gave her name to the villa for a few years. After a period of well-being still linked to land rents and silkworm breeding, the outbreak of the First World War marks a setback: Trivignano is in the middle of the war scenario and the villa is therefore used as a military hospital .
In 1954 Elodia Orgnani Martina bought the property, which is still managed by her heirs. The receptive part of Villa Elodia offers today to its customers the possibility of renting the central villa, where there are four double rooms, breakfast-dining room, living room and kitchen, or the charming foledor composed of two rooms, four bathrooms and equipped kitchen space .
Finally, the garden and the park are the ideal setting for many occasions, making them perfect for any type of setting up.