Behind golden bars

Villa Foscari, a high example of Palladian creativity on the banks of the Brenta river, enjoys a legendary aura that covers the stairways and columns and the rooms and windows of the building.

Everything revolves around his nickname, La Malcontenta, around which many have created narratives more or less based on real facts. Certainly there are plausible explanations, such as the one that sees the site being called this way long before the Palladian building, due to the continuous overflow of the river in that area. Hence the whole territory of the complex took the name of poorly contained Brenta, hence Malcontenta.

But we know that without a little mystery all the fun is lacking, so we want to be passionate about the legend, the one that wants an unfortunate lady locked up in penance inside the majestic building.

It tells of Elisabetta Dolfin, noblewoman and widow of a Pisani man, who was married in second marriage to Nicolò Foscari. The unfortunate lady was forced, after the abandonment of the complex by the Foscari family, to stay and live among the solitary walls, as a punishment for the libertine conduct that was wrong with a married noble woman.

It still remains a mystery how she was able to survive locked up, without anyone assisting her by bringing her food and making sure she was still healthy. Around the perimeter of the residence, the park survived infested with weeds of all kinds and slowly the place fell into disrepair. It is said that Elisabetta lived in those conditions for thirty years before she died, and that even today her ghost dressed in white, hovers calling anyone who wanders among the rooms.

DISCOVER MORE