The villa Farsetti garden in Santa Maria di Sala. The landscape of a Venetian villa and its future
international workshop
25-30 June 2018
Treviso-Santa Maria di Sala (Venice)
Objectives and content
Fondazione Benetton Studi Ricerche, within the framework of the experimental activities on landscape and care for places developed by its scientific Committee, in cooperation with the Municipality of Santa Maria di Sala (Venice) organizes an international design workshop about Villa Farsetti garden, in relation to the urban context of Santa Maria di Sala and its landscape.
The workshop offers an opportunity for reflecting on and raising awareness of the issue of role that a significant villa settlement can play in the contemporary landscape, in connection with its links with the social, cultural and territorial context
The work will be approached as a multidisciplinary design exploration to reflect on the history, current layout, future uses and ways to take care of a symbolic place for history of art, botany and Veneto landscape.
The villa Farsetti complex is the centre of Santa Maria di Sala’s public life. Now located in the midst of highly urbanised landscape still marked by and bearing the visible impression of Roman centuriation, it used to be a “garden of wonders”, whose botanical collections included exotic plants that spread from here to the rest of Italy and beyond. It used to be an actual botanical garden, a place for experimentation equipped with greenhouses, hothouses, cold and warm houses, and featuring the most sophisticated irrigation, humidification and heating systems, even superior to those then found at the University of Padua. At its peak it housed almost three thousand plants, including the first specimens of Magnolia grandiflora ever imported in Italy and some rare vines from Bourgogne.
Its rich history and its current condition, near the town centre of Santa Maria di Sala and closely connected to its social and cultural life, turn the place into a particularly interesting and significant case study for an assessment in the field of the relationship between historical garden studies – especially in connection to the “Venetian villa” phenomenon – and contemporary landscape design culture.
Activities
The workshop will occupy six full days from Monday 25th to Saturday 30th June 2018. It will be based in Treviso, in Fondazione Benetton, and will include seminar type activities, lectures, sites visits, discussions, design, and work presentation.
All participants will be issued with an attendance certificate.
Admission requirements and procedures
The workshop is designed to involve fifteen holders of master’s degree or similar qualifications who are interested in interdisciplinary group work. Ideally they should have some experience in the field of landscape research and project design, at university or in a post-university professional context. All participants should have a good command of spoken and written Italian, the main language of the workshop.
Participants will be selected on the basis of the curriculum and application submitted.
The call can be found on the Foundation’s website (www.fbsr.it) or obtained from the Foundation’s offices at via Cornarotta 7, Treviso (open from Monday to Friday, 9am-1pm and 2-6pm).
Applications should give full personal particulars, including telephone number(s), e-mail and postal addresses, and should be accompanied by a curriculum vitae and a short letter explaining the reasons for the applicant’s interest (maximum length 3,000 characters including spaces). This material should be sent by e-mail to paesaggio@fbsr.it with the reference heading “workshop 2018”. Applications must reach the Foundation’s offices no later than 12 am on Tuesday 15th May 2018.
The Foundation reserves the right, at its discretion, to increase the number of places available.
Selection of participants
The results of the selection process, which will be carried out by the Foundation, will be published on the website www.fbsr.it by 25th May 2018 and successful applicants will be notified later by email.
Participation conditions
No enrolment fee is payable for participation in the workshop.
The Foundation will make suitable premises and services available for the workshop; it will also be responsible for the ordering and free provision of all teaching and work materials, transfers for site visits and lunch on each day of the workshop. Participants will be responsible for evening meals and accommodation in Palermo.
Further information, including advice on the availability of accommodation in Treviso, is available from the Foundation’s offices.
Lecturers
Paolo Bürgi, Studio Bürgi, Camorino (Switzerland)
Luigi Latini, Iuav University, Venice
Giuseppe Rallo, Soprintendenza ai BB.AA.PP. delle province di Ve-Bl-Pd-Tv, Venice
Tutor
Elena Antoniolli, architect, Treviso
Elisa Beordo, architect, Belluno
Giacomo Casentini, architect, Vicenza
Coordination of the workshop
Simonetta Zanon, Fondazione Benetton Studi Ricerche
Scientific Committee of Fondazione Benetton Studi Ricerche
Maria Teresa Andresen, University of Porto; Giuseppe Barbera, University of Palermo; Hervé Brunon, André Chastel Centre, cnrs, Paris; Anna Lambertini, University of Florence; Luigi Latini (Chairman), Iuav University of Venice; Monique Mosser, Advanced School of Architecture Versailles, cnrs, Paris; Joan Nogué, University of Girona; Lionello Puppi, Professor Emeritus, Ca’ Foscari University, Venice; José Tito Rojo, University of Granada; Massimo Venturi Ferriolo, Milan Polytechnic University, and the Foundation’s Director Marco Tamaro (as Secretary) and sector heads Patrizia Boschiero (publications); Francesca Ghersetti (documentation centre); Massimo Rossi (geographical studies); Simonetta Zanon (landscape projects)