A landscape project for Villa Farsetti in Santa Maria di Sala

In the area between Padua, Treviso and Venice, where the traces of the Roman centuriation are still visible, is located Villa Farsetti, the witness of a much wider, but no longer existing, complex. Built in the middle of the XVIII century, it emulated the magnificence of Palace of Versailles, representing the visionary ideals of the owner, heir of a noble Venetian family passionate for art and botany which brought in Italy for the first time several plants species, i.e. Magnolia grandiflora var. ferruginea. Three main objectives have been identified: landscape recovery, considering its position in a territory deeply characterized by the Roman centuriation; economical evaluation, remembering the self-sufficiency typical of the old villas and cultural rehab, referring to the educative mission of the villa and following the ambitions of the owner. The project proposes five gardens, each one hosting a different function. The parterre facing the villa would have a representative function, the “brolo” behind the villa would work as the “town square”, the new gardens on the west would assume new productive and cultural functions, thus referring to the main characteristics of the garden. On the north-west area, the project proposes the realization of a Magnolia wood, on the centered one a plant nursery and on the south-west area an herbaceous plants garden.

The aim of this thesis was to consider alternative uses and solutions for an historical garden, through the proposal of unusual functions respecting the site and its history.