The Villa Widmann-Foscari is located at the shores of the river Brenta located in the small town of Mira, between Venice and Padua. The present palace was built in the 18th century; a succession of families including the Scerimann, Donà, Foscari, had previously owned the site. The present villa was apparently designed and built in 1719 by Alessandro Tirali, a Venetian architect.
The Widmanns commissioned the internal frescoes mainly by Giuseppe Angeli, a pupil of Giambattista Piazzetta, and Gerolamo Mengozzi Colonna, who worked with Tiepolo. The Villa is surrounded by cypress and horse-chestnut trees, and gardens interspersed by several stone statues of gods, nymphs and cupids. A Barchessa (a protruding arcade wing usually functioning as storage sheds or stables) and a small church, where Elisabetta and Arianna Widmann are buried, are also part of the Villa’s buildings.
References:Sigmaringen Castle was first mentioned in the year 1077 in the chronicles of Petershausen monastery. The oldest parts of the castle are concealed beneath the alterations made during the 17th and the 19th centuries. The secret of the earliest settlement built on this defendable rock will never be fully revealed: large-scale excavation work would be necessary, which the extensive land development renders impossible. Judging from the many Roman remains unearthed in the area around Sigmaringen, the 12th century keep known as the 'Roman Tower' could be traced back to a Roman predecessor.
The castle remains that have been preserved (gate, great hall and keep) date back to the Staufer period around 1200. The castle remains were integrated into subsequent buildings. The foundations of the castle buildings are to a large extent identical to the surrounding castle wall.
These remains give us a good idea of how the castle might have looked during the 12th century.