In the countryside south of the Berici Hills, near the village of Agugliaro, Villa Saraceno is one of the simplest and most elegant of Andrea Palladio's villas, built in the mid-sixteenth century for Biagio Saraceno, a Vicentine nobleman. It is a compact building with a classical portico of arches and a triangular pediment, set among farmland, and it is part of the UNESCO World Heritage Site of the City of Vicenza and the Palladian Villas of the Veneto.
Palladio's villas were designed not only as country residences for the Venetian nobility but also as working farms, and Villa Saraceno is a good example of this, with barns and outbuildings around it. Inside, the main rooms are decorated with frescoes. The villa was restored by the Landmark Trust, a British charity that rescues historic buildings and lets them as holiday accommodation, so it is possible to stay in it, though visits for the public are limited to certain days.
The riding around Villa Saraceno is gentle and pleasant. The roads cross the flat farmland of the lower Vicentine plain, with canals and poplars, and climb into the Berici Hills to the north, with winding roads through vineyards, woods and villages. The Euganean Hills, to the east, offer more winding roads and spa towns such as Abano Terme. The Palladian villas are scattered across the countryside, and a tour of them by motorcycle makes a lovely day. Summer is hot and humid, and spring and autumn are the best seasons.
Noventa Vicentina, three kilometres away, is a town of seven thousand with fuel, shops and restaurants, and Agugliaro and Campiglia dei Berici are smaller villages. Vicenza, about twenty-five kilometres north, is the city of Palladio, with the Basilica Palladiana and the Teatro Olimpico. The local food includes baccalà alla vicentina, stewed salt cod with polenta, and the wines of the Berici Hills, such as Tai Rosso. Standing in front of Villa Saraceno in the evening light, with the fields around it, you understand Palladio's vision of harmony between architecture and landscape.