Andrea Palladio built villas for the Venetian nobility as working farms, not just as country houses, and Villa Emo at Fanzolo is perhaps the purest example of that idea. Completed around 1560 for the Emo family, it stands at the centre of a flat, fertile estate, with a long, symmetrical central block flanked by two arcaded wings, the barchesse, which housed the farm buildings, storage and dovecotes. The ramp leading up to the front door was used for threshing grain. Inside, the rooms are decorated with frescoes by Giovanni Battista Zelotti, mythological and allegorical scenes that bring colour and life to the classical architecture. The villa is part of the UNESCO listing of Vicenza and the Palladian Villas of the Veneto.
The Emo family owned the villa for more than four centuries, which is part of the reason it has survived so well. The surrounding fields are still farmed, and the long straight avenue leading to the villa gives a sense of the original layout, with the house at the centre of a carefully planned agricultural landscape.
The riding around Fanzolo is flat and easy, through the plains of the Treviso province, with long straight roads, fields of maize and vines, and small towns and villages. It is not dramatic, but the mountains are never far away. To the north, Monte Grappa rises from the plain, with a famous road that climbs to the summit and the vast war memorial there, the scene of heavy fighting in the First World War. To the north east, the Prosecco hills around Valdobbiadene and Conegliano offer winding roads through vineyards, with views over the plain.
Castelfranco Veneto, about seven kilometres away, is a walled town with a fine cathedral, which houses a famous altarpiece by Giorgione, the Renaissance painter who was born there. It has fuel, shops and restaurants, and the local speciality is radicchio, especially the variegated Castelfranco variety, speckled with red. Asolo, a hilltop town north of the plain, is another lovely place to visit, with views over the countryside. The weather in the Veneto is hot and humid in summer, with occasional thunderstorms, so the early morning is the best time for riding.