From Castle to Villa: A Journey Through Time

Hello fellow travelers,

As I mentioned yesterday, today in this post I'll unveil the second place I visited during the Italian historic residences tour.
I managed to visit a place I've been wanting to see for a long time. Actually, it's just 12 km away from Villa delle Rose, which I visited yesterday. You can take a look at the post I made here yesterday, but this place truly has a unique history that I'll share with you in this post.

This place, as you can notice from the medieval tower, which is the protagonist in many photos I've shared here, was once a castle, the Castle of San Pelagio. We are located in the municipality of Due Carrare in the province of Padua.

Over the years, part of the castle was demolished. It was somewhat of a trend at the time to destroy certain castles and use the bricks to build other palaces. In reality, this place was later purchased by the Zaborra family, the current owners of the villa. Instead of the castle, they built this villa that we see in the photos. Over time, numerous architectural modifications were made, and this villa became more and more imposing. However, last Sunday, I only had the opportunity to visit a part of it.

Inside this villa, you'll find the Flight Museum, which houses an extraordinary aeronautical collection. Through the museum's tour, you can learn about the history of flight, and soon the last section of the museum dedicated to space flight will also be inaugurated.

But many of you may wonder why there's a flight museum inside this villa.

During World War I, this villa was leased by the Italian army, and the nearby fields were used as an airstrip for airplanes, both for landing and takeoff.

Logistically, we're just a few kilometers away from where the war front was during the First World War. On August 9, 1918, seven airplanes departed from here to Vienna to drop propaganda leaflets, aiming to end the conflict, which indeed concluded in November 1918.

This was an epic feat, commemorated by a plaque outside the villa. But most importantly, you have to try to imagine hours of flight on early airplane prototypes. In fact, ten aircraft took off, but only seven made it to Vienna and returned.

Inside the villa, there are also beautiful gardens where, besides being in contact with nature, you can take a relaxing walk completely immersed in greenery.

Currently, this villa is open to the public with an entrance ticket, and like the previous villa I introduced you to yesterday, events of any kind and weddings can be organized here.

I hope the photos I've shared and my narrative have been interesting. See you in my next post, soon!