The labyrinth of Villa Pisani

Villa Pisani (above, in a google earth image, and right, as seen from the river) is one of the best examples of eighteenth century baroque architecture. It is located in in the pictoresque riviera del Brenta, 15 kilometers from Venice. The more than hundred rooms of the villa host frescoes from many masters of the period, including Gian Battista Tiepolo. The villa was owned by Napoleon, and then hosted other famous historical events such as a meeting of Mussolini and Hitler in 1934.

The villa itself is majestic and quite spectacular, but no less so is its huge park, which hosts among many other attractions a fancy labyrinth. We visited it at long last today – Filippo had been eager to try solving the maze for a year, but regrettably the labyrinth is often closed and the opening hours change unpredictably, and our past attempts had been unsuccessful.

The labyrinth has a trapezoidal shape of about 60 meters on each side. You enter from a side and have to work your way to the center, where a tower allows you a view of the entire maze. Despite its relatively small dimensions, it is not entirely trivial to find your way, especially if you do not take it too seriously. But we did solve it rather quickly, and getting back out was easier after having checked the correct path from above.

I attach below a few pictures taken today. First, the entrance to the labyrinth:

Then a part of the paths in the labyrinth: 

 

Below, Filippo is contemplating the lily pads on the pond.

 

One of the many statues embellishing the gardens:

Finally, a view of the central pond in front of the villa: