Villas of the Italian Nobility – Verona and the Largo di Garda

Verona, on the western edges of the Veneto, and the Lago di Garda, quite literally the border between the Veneto and Lombardy, remain exclusively outside traditional tourist destinations. Here, hidden amongst some of northern Italy’s most scenic landscapes, many of the Italian nobility chose to build, what are now little-known, architectural gems.

This tour is unique in that the important private homes that we shall be visiting are not usually open to the public. The owners, predominantly members of the Italian aristocracy, have very kindly agreed to open their homes to us on this occasion, and it is this rare opportunity that gives this exclusive tour its particular cache. Individual guided tours of these villas and palazzos, very often led by the owners themselves, some of whom have very kindly consented to host our group to lunches or dinners, will enable us to explore the rise of the nobility in this picturesque, often unexplored, region of northern Italy. In conjunction with short walking tours in Verona, the cultural capital of the area, our aim is to provide an understanding of the cultural developments of this little-studied, but extremely significant, region on the north-west hinterland of Italy’s Veneto.

Resource Person
Graduating in the 1970s, Michael Borozdin-Bidnell spent many years as a London-based interior designer, working internationally as a Senior Partner and travelling extensively in Europe, America and both the near and far East.

Becoming a Master of Science in the mid-1990s, he joined the Georgian Group, the UK National Amenity Society, a charitable organisation established in 1937 to campaign for the protection of 18th century and early 19th century buildings in England, as Head of Research and Information. Since then he has written and lectured extensively, both in the UK and overseas, as an architectural historian and has led overseas cultural tours in Europe for the past nine years. He is currently in the final year of a Doctorate in Architectural History.