Villa Quaranta

The villa is located in Mezzacampagna, in the centre of Campagna Grande, the rocky and dry zone among the hills of Verona. It was the summer house of the noble Veronese family of Quaranta, which still links its own name to a sqaure in the city centre (Corte Quaranta), between Emilei Street and Nicolis’ Street.

The building should be built between 1630, the year of the plague’s epidemy, and 1653, year of the esteem document made by Agostino Quaranta, son of Bernardino, which describes the villa as a propriety “con casa da padrone et lavorenti, et gastaldi, chiesa casa per il reverendo sacerdote, con hostaria, corte e broletto”. (house for master, workers, church, house for the priest, with hostaria, court and brolo). After Agostino, the complex passed to his son Giò Batta and after his death, passed to his daughter Atonia which left the villa to her sister, wife of Bandino da Lisca.
From the end of the XVII century the complex aquired the stem of Quaranta family.
During the XIX century the the counts Butturini from Venezia owned the Villa; after them, it was proprietà of various familiy of the North Italy that were interested in its exploitation instead of its improvement.

The noble part of the building has only one body; the main facade has a simple shape, with windows that have a moulded frame. This part ha salso a loggia, prominent to the outside; here a claque remembers that the Russian emperor Alexander I slept in the villa in 1822, when he was in Verona for the “Congresso della Santa Speranza”. The inner part, at the round floor, has an anteroom, painted with a pattern of bench’s back. In the central hall, above the doors, there are some frescos and other 6 painted benches. A wonderful marble stairway leads to the upper floor, painted with epic period’s frescos.

The Church, behind the palace, has the entrance facing the North. It’s dedicated to the Purification of the Blessed Virgin Mary.