Villa San Fermo is located in the municipality of Lonigo, in the province of Vicenza, located on one of the last tracts of the Berici Hills. Managed by the Pavonian Fathers, the complex is structured as a Home for spiritual retreats but also as a hotel and location for wedding banquets and various occasions.
Villa San Fermo History
Villa San Fermo is both a place to stay where you can spend quiet and pleasant days of vacation is a house of spirituality that brings to the hill the climate of meditation and prayer that has characterized these environments since the tenth century. At that time dates back to the origin of the building, a time when a community of monks of San Benedetto di Polirone settled there, building an abbey and the church of San Fermo and Rustico.
The Benedictine abbey subsequently passed under the jurisdiction of the Canons of San Giorgio in Alga di Venezia until the suppression of the Congregation in 1668 by Clement IX. In 1670 the monastery was later bought by Nicolò Venier, procurator of San Marco and years later it passed to the Contarini family. In 1834, by inheritance, the new owner was Andrea Giovanelli, a Venetian patrician who later became a prince.
It was with the arrival of the Giovanelli that the complex, with long works of embellishments, took on the appearance of a villa-palace able to symbolize their economic power. The family held the monastery until 1933, when it was owned by the Jesuits and became the site of a novitiate of the Order. The Jesuits then took over the Order of the Pavonians, who are its current owners.
After years of neglect, the entire complex underwent a substantial restoration in the mid-1980s, which gave remarkable results for the historical understanding of the various buildings.
The villa, surrounded by a majestic park and garden, presents the monumental Entrance of the Rivers, composed of two pavilions, two-storey houses that served as a dwelling for the various servants. Inside the two large rooms located next to the entrance were used as a greenhouse for plants and flowers, while on the main floor are the music room, the dining room, the conversation room, the hall of honor and the library of the prince, where there is still the vintage cherry wood bookcase.
The villa offers hospitality with 54 rooms, all with services. It is equipped with chapels for liturgical celebrations, an evocative sixteenth-century cloister and spacious rooms for meetings and ceremonies.