Villa Mosconi - Bertani

The estate is located in the middle of the hills and surrounded by forests untouched by urbanization, and this countryside gives a special artistic value. The Novare Valley is of great geological and hydrological interest. Seven underground springs flow here, which from Roman times fed the aqueduct leading to Verona. The soil of this valley is rich in iron, whose deposits were actively used in antiquity.

The construction of the villa was started by the Fattori family around 1735, not far from a previously existing wine cellar dating from the 16th century, at the site of the settlement of the Arusnath tribe, then the Romans. The unfinished building was sold to the Mosconi family in 1769. The new owners completed the construction, adding to the project 8 hectares of a magnificent park in the English style. Mosconi expanded wine production by creating one of the largest wineries of his time in Northern Italy. During this period, the villa was an important literary salon visited by representatives of culture, such as the poet and writer Ippolito Pindemonte. In the first half of the 20th century, the estate experienced years of oblivion and vandalism, which damaged the park and some rooms of the villa. In 1953, the Bertani family acquired the land, carried out restoration work and established a headquarters for the winery of the same name. Since 2012, the estate has been transferred into the possession of the Gaetano Bertani family, which continues family wine traditions.

The architectural complex of the estate is a typical example of the Palladian idea of ​​a Venetian villa. The complex consists of two parts: the first is agricultural and industrial, associated with wine, the second is a residential residence. The history of the estate includes 35 families who have lived here since the construction of this neoclassical temple.

The villa consists of a main residence and two symmetrical wings. Above the east wing rises the bell tower of the current chapel of San Gaetano. On both sides of the wings there is a private gate providing access to the peasant premises and the wine cellar.

The construction of the central building of the villa, chapel and cellars was completed in the first half of the 18th century by the Verona architect Adrian Cristofali, commissioned by the first owner of the estate, Giacomo Fattori. Initially, work on the project began in 1710 by the architect Lodovico Perini on the site of existing buildings of the settlement of the XVI century. The creation of the summer residence was supposed to emphasize the count title of the Fattori family, however, the architect Perini died before the start of work, so the project was transferred to Adriano Cristofali. A front garden was added to the estate project, giving a more aristocratic appearance to the residence and side wings, thereby separating the rest area from the working one.

The central building of the villa has three floors. The facade of the building is visually separated by two architectural orders: Tuscan - on the ground floor and Ionic - on the second. The pediment is decorated with a tympanum with a coat of arms, added by the Trezz family, and nine statues of mythological deities rise above. The statues in the park are the work of the sculptor Lorenzo Muttoni.

The central hall of the villa - the Muz salon - occupies three floors in height and is completely covered with magnificent frescoes. Upstairs, on the walls of the second floor, two emblems of the Mosconi family stand out.

The painted wooden balustrade visually divides the hall into two floors, has practical and thematic significance:

• the ground floor is decorated with rustication technique. Monochrome statues symbolizing muses of arts are located in painted niches: architecture, sculpture, painting, geometry, astronomy and music;

• on the second floor there is a feeling of a unified perspective due to the smooth transition of frescoes from the balcony to the ceiling. On the sides of the walls are statues of the goddesses of Justice and Abundance, satire figures symbolizing the defenders of the vineyard are visible above the doorways.

• the central part of the ceiling is decorated with a fresco depicting four seasons, thereby showing the passage of time. The main theme of the mural is to convey the meaning of the agricultural activity of this estate. In the very central part of the image, the goddess Flora stands out in bright colors, below and to the left of her are two figures of the goddesses of summer, Ceres and Tellus depicted in warm and bright colors. On the opposite side, in chromatic contrast, Autumn and Winter are seated among thunderous dark clouds. Next to them, the god Zephyr soars in the company of funny angels. In the background, Apollo is visible on his chariot.

The frescoes were beaten by the Emilian artists who worked at that time in Verona. In particular, the decorative cycle of the first and second floors, the work of the master quadrist Prospero Pesci, from the school of Filippo Maccari. The central mural was painted by Giuseppe Valliani, nicknamed Pistoiese.

At the end of the 18th century, fashion began to spread to naturalistic complexes, where they preferred the Italian garden (symmetrical and green), an English-style garden. Such a garden is characterized by romance, picturesqueness, exotic plants, alleys, nooks and architectural ruins. The brothers Giacomo and Guglielmo Mosconi acted in that direction, putting in order the plot of land behind the villa, gave it a dual purpose: a park and forests. They built a small lake, fed by underground springs flowing on this land.

In the center of the lake there is a small island with a tall Taxodium tree, which can be accessed through the bridge. A coffee house in the North European style was built off the coast. The design of the park was proposed by the poet Ippolito Pindemont, impressed by a small English influence. In his essay, “Over the English Gardens,” published in 1792 by the Padua Academy of Sciences and Agriculture, he cites the philosopher, lawyer, and politician Francis Bacon

In addition to exotic plants on the islet and several Lebanese cedars, the trees in the park are typical representatives of the local forests. In 1820, the writer Persico described it as “a park with a variety of exotic plants,” and for the Verona artist Angelo Dall'Oka Bianca, this park was a source of inspiration.

The idea of ​​building a coffee house on the lake came to Ippolito Pindemone after various trips. Spending vacations in France with friends of Jean-Jacques Rousseau , who also had a friend, he was struck by landscapes with springs and meadows. During the day, the house was used for relaxation and reading after walks, in the evening - for board games, like chess, and from here the sounds of the harp were made, which were played by the daughters of Countess Mosconi.

In addition, the park has an ice storage room, built at the end of the 18th century and used until the middle of the last century.

The garden is decorated with ancient statues, benches and a small fountain. The estate site is completely surrounded by a wall and within it there is a spacious vineyard - all this gives the complex the importance of a garden area. In front of the villa and the front garden there is a fence whose rhythm is emphasized by spiers and decorative vases. The front garden is distinguished by the correct design, in the middle of a large flowerbed there is a small round pool, and the connecting road from the two gates sent carriages arriving and leaving the villa.

The park of Villa Mosconi - Bertani was included in the list of eighty Great Gardens of Italy due to its environmental and historical significance.

The playwright Ippolito Pindemonte stayed in the villa at Countess Elizabeth Mosconi for 10 years. In one of his Epistles in Poems, written in 1800, Ippolito spoke of the residence:

"In your wonderful Novara, I live happy days with you, dear Elizabeth."

Also briefly speaks about this pleasant place to relax with a garden:

“I saw the shadows of your garden that seemed even more beautiful to me ...”

Warm feelings for Elizabeth prompted Ippolito Pindemonte to stay in the villa until her death from 1797 to 1807. For the writer, this estate in Novara was a very valuable place to relax. The relationship between Ippolito and Elizabeth, Mesedalya declares, was gentle and the poet reveals them in one of the poems from 1800.

During his stay in the villa, Ippolito Pindemonte translates Homer 's Odyssey into Italian.

The poet Hugo Foscolo met in a villa with Pindemonte presumably in 1806. This meeting gave rise to the idea of ​​creating the poem "Tombs", which was written between August 1806 and April 1807. and later published by publisher Niccolo Bettoni in Brescia. In response to the work of Foscono, Pindemonte wrote his poem with the same name and in 1807 the publisher Gambetti from Verona publishes these two poems under the title “Tombs - verses by Hugo Foscolo and Ippolito Pindemonte”.

The estate is located in the wine-growing valley of Valpolicella Classico, which is famous for its wines Vadpolicella Crassico DOC and Amarone Classico DOCG. The large wine cellar of the Villa Mosconi - Bertani is one of the oldest and permanent in Italy. Winemaking in this valley was probably mastered already from the time of the Roman Empire. The first official documents testify to the wine cellar from the 10th century AD.

The wine production of this valley expanded significantly during the period when the estate was owned by the Mosconi family at the end of the 18th century, then by the Trezz family. In the XIX century, wine production reached significant volumes, producing more than a million bottles, and began to represent one of the largest Italian wineries of that time.

On this land, 26 families were replaced in the production of wine, replacing each other, as evidenced by the report and newsreel M. Lotze. This photographic report is of a painful artistic and historical value, is a unique document of its kind for the city of Verona. All innovative processes used for the first time on this estate are illustrated in detail. In the 19th century, production was famous for applying the Guyot method to growing vines and exporting quality wines. The report was ordered around 1882 and is still kept at the Verona Academy of Agriculture, Science and Literature.

It was at this winery in 1936 that the name "Amarone" was coined, referring to the typical wine of the Valpolicella Valley, made from raisins of grapes.

Since 1953, the winery was further developed thanks to the acquisition of the estate by the Bertani family.

Since mid-2012, it has been the property and headquarters of the Tenuta Santa Maria di Gaetano Bertani winery, which continues the more than centuries-old tradition of family winemaking.

• I Sepolcri (Ippolito Pindemonte)
• Dissertazione Sui Giardini Inglesi (Ippolito Pindemonte)
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• Official Website of Villa Mosconi Bertani