Villa Contarini (Este)

The Contarini were prominent patrons in Este, having also commissioned the construction of the Porta di San Francesco (1595), one of the main city gates.

The main works included the realisation of the large park extending from the property, and the expansion of the western wing, according to Late Renaissance canons.

Despite the Napoleonic occupation of the Veneto, the family Contarini retained Vigna Contarena until 1820–1821, when the villa was sold to the Prussian Count of Haugwitz.

These kinds of gardens were enclosed in order to protect their rank vegetation from the surrounding desert, but also to materialize, with plants and animals, the concept of Eden.

It is also for this reason that Vittorio Cossato, journalist for Il Giorno, described Vigna Contarena as una gemma di eleganza architettonica nel verde castone del parco ("a gem of architecture in a green setting").

Christian August Heinrich Kurt Graf von Haugwitz was a Prussian minister and diplomat who was held partly responsible for the terrible defeat against Napoleon (1806).

During his stay, the Count of Haugwitz – known as "The Prussian" by local people – fell deeply in love with the young Baroness Kunkler, who lived in the homonymous villa not far from Vigna Contarena.