Villa Della Torre Allegrini

About Winery and Wines

Villa della Torre is a historical jewel of sixteenth century Italian architecture. Its owes its construction, completed around 1560, to Giulio della Torre, a learned intellectual and humanist, involved in significant social, political and religious activities. There are several hypotheses regarding the architectural authorship of the Villa, which even today the locals refer to as “el palasso” (the Palace): contributors to the architectural project included Giulio Romano, the author of Palazzo Te in Mantova during the rule of the Gonzaga dynasty, Michele Sanmicheli, Bartolomeo Ridolfi and Giulio Della Torre himself. His artistic versatility, taste and refined sense of style were well known and appreciated in intellectual circles during that period. The unique character of the villa derives from its conception: it was not merely a country villa built in a utilitarian fashion to serve the agricultural activities of the estate, but also a place designed for the peace and tranquility of the body and soul according to the canons of Latin writers so important in the Italian humanist tradition. While the Villa’s artistic curators concur in attributing the layout of Palazzo della Torre to the precepts of Vitruvius and Pliny The Younger, art historians have more recently also assigned a role to biblical themes, in the sense of a structural progression from the bottom (Hell) towards the top (Heaven), a blend of secular and sacred elements consistent with the profile of the Della Torre family, who balanced their humanist interests with strong ties to the Church. Some members of the family were influential prelates, highly visible in the Verona society of the time.