Villa Sgaravatti. Jacopo Dondi “Dell’orologio” was living here.

Over the years, this villa was abode of to various astronomers and scientists, and here was living Jacopo Dondi too, a doctor, astronomer and clock-maker from Padua, Italy, remembered today as a pioneer in the art of clock design and construction. In fact, he is known because he built the astronomical clock overlooking on Piazza dei Signori in Padua (1344). I don’t know what is the probable date of construction of the villa, but was owned by the “Dondi dell’Orologio” and then by the Wollemborg (rich Paduan Jews of German origin), was subsequently purchased by the Sgaravatti family of Padua, which used part of the land in front of villa as a nursery. The little tower is supposed to have been built in different ages: the part containing the staircase (now collapsed) ends with a cornice that reproduces exactly that of the eighteenth-century construction, while the upper one with the external stairs, the railings and the belvedere can be collocated in the nineteenth Romanesque.

Author’s notes: This villa is located in Abano Terme, Padova, following the SS16 in direction Este-Padova, and it’s on the opposite side of the canal. In last years, there were here three fires (the last one in 2011), which destroyed it almost completely.