This is the beautiful fountain before the main entrance of the villa, in front of the fine iron gate and the barchessa semi arch engulfing the huge round space before the villa, once to make coaches move, currently used to park cars. It also serves as a market place. The semi arch is the only one survived of two, and it hosts shops and bars. The barchessa, barcon or barco it is a rural building of service, typical of the architecture of the villa veneta, destined to contain the outside servants’ workplace and lodgings, dividing the space of the main body of the villa, reserved to the owners, from that of the peasants. Generally, the barchesse were characterized by a high structure with round arched porches and intended for the servants: as kitchens and homes of the peasants, stables and outbuildings (shed for farm implements, warehouse for food supplies, etc.) The name barchessa is derived from the Venetian use of boat storage in these structures, since travelling by boat was very common and also preferred, due to the bad conditions of the roads. In the Republic of Venice the barchesse are nearly always situated laterally to the lord’s house and are integrating part of a great productive agricultural complex. Andrea Palladio gave architectonic dignity to the barchesse, aligned and linked them to the main house, with greater symmetry and monumentality. Although the orientation was important in his Four Books of Architecture (Venice, 1570), Palladio says that the barchessa should be exposed to the south in order to keep the straw and hay dry, to prevent fermentation and fires. In the Veneto countryside - particularly along the Riviera of the Brenta river - it is not uncommon today to find barchesse free of the villa. Because of the tax on houses, during the nineteenth century many buildings of the Venetian aristocracy were culled, leaving only the barchesse, useful as sheds or warehouses. Thank you for your kind comments.