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The best preserved villa (1560) by Palladio (see Andrea Palladio) lies close to the pretty hilltown of Asolo. This charming country house features all manner of Roman-inspired elements, from the nymphaeum and grotto to the circular temple akin to the Pantheon. Playful trompe l’oeil frescoes by Veronese (see Paolo Veronese) adorn the main rooms alongside elaborate stucco work, while the garden is punctuated with Classical statuary. Drop in to the estate’s wine cellar next door.

A splendid two-floor 18th-century villa designed for Doge Alvise Pisani, with 114 sumptuously furnished rooms and an impressive ballroom decorated by Tiepolo (see Giambattista Tiepolo). Above the huge façade columns, scores of statues line the roof overlooking inner courtyards and a spacious park where the Venetian nobility would promenade on summer evenings. Be sure to try out the wonderful 1721 circular maze. The guest list has included onetime proprietor Napoleon, Russian, Austrian and Swedish royalty, Mussolini and Hitler.

Known for the jaunty statues of dwarfs on the garden wall, these cosy twin buildings stand on a pretty ridge looking up to Monte Berico and its sanctuary. The Tiepolo father and son fresco team were invited here by Count Valmarana in 1757, the former to decorate the main part, the latter the Foresteria guest quarters.

Perfectly proportioned imposing villa with four temple façades on a hill overlooking the architect Palladio’s adoptive town of Vicenza. The house has been imitated throughout the world. If you want to visit the gilded stuccoed and domed villa as opposed to the rather limited grounds, time your visit carefully as it’s only open one day per week.

Wonderful dignified residence set on the bend of the Brenta Canal, though now rather too close to the Marghera industrial area. Designed by Andrea Palladio in 1571, it is one of his most famous creations, with a Greek temple façade, while the interior glows with allegorical frescoes. The name is a reference to the “discontent” of a female member of the Foscari family, exiled here for adultery.

The Euganean Hills are the perfect setting for this Baroque garden, designed for the Barbarigo family from Venice by Luigi Bernini, architect of the Vatican fountains in Rome. The villa, dating from 1669, is a private dwelling, but the 15-ha (37-acre) garden provides a boxwood maze, fountains, fish ponds, statues and hundreds of trees.

Another of Palladio’s light-flooded country residences, this one was commissioned by the Emo family and built around 1560. A harmonious central block is flanked by graceful arched barchesse (wings), designed for storing hay and farm tools. The interior has lively frescoes by Renaissance artist Zelotti, also responsible for the Malcontenta villa decorations.

A horseshoe plaza lined with terraced houses faces the façade of this 17th-century country villa, once the focus for a thriving farming community. A remarkable system of acoustics was invented so that musicians performing in the Sala della Musica on the first floor could be clearly appreciated downstairs. An antiques market is held in the grounds on the last Sunday of each month.

Unusual double-tiered, compact Palladio creation, this one dates back to 1560–70. The façade columns are both Corinthian and Doric in style, with acanthus leaves or scrolls around the capitals.

Formerly guest quarters, these are extant “wings” of a 17th-century villa, whose main body was demolished in 1908. Close by are locks on the Brenta waterway, excavated over centuries to divert the river away from the lagoon and eliminate silting.