Report - Villa Valier, Battaglia Terme, Northern Italy, April 2017

[HughieD]

1. The History
Very , very little in the way of info on this place. The villa has historical traces that date the property date back to the 1500's, with the construction of the buildings perhaps towards the end of 1600. Villa Valier, also known as Villa del Principe, lies isolated and majestic in the woods behind Catajo Castle, outside of the town of Battaglia Terme. It has been abandoned for some time now and nature has just above recovered the mansion.

2. The Explore
Happened across this place while searching for places to visit. I found a report on the excellent photo blog of Italian Photographer Valentina Gleria. From the general description it turned out to be in the area of a place we were planning to visit. Hence I started scanning Google Maps in the area to try and find it. By more luck than judgement I came across a place in the woods that looked like the villa and sure enough it was. The villa is on the outskirts of Battaglia Terme. It lies off a private road so I parked up by the main road and walked the couple of km to the villa. In its rural location, without having located it on Google Earth first, it would have been hard to spot. Especially during the spring when the trees are starting to grow their leaves. From the road it is very hard to spot but find it I did and I had a very enjoyable look around.

3. The Pictures
The villa comes into sight:

img0123 by HughieDW, on Flickr

No entry from the front

img0091 by HughieDW, on Flickr

img0093 by HughieDW, on Flickr

img0094 by HughieDW, on Flickr

img0096 by HughieDW, on Flickr

There is a small building to the right hand side:

img0103 by HughieDW, on Flickr

…and has some bits and bobs in it still:

img0097 by HughieDW, on Flickr

The roofs gone in places:

img0098 by HughieDW, on Flickr

In the bathroom the toilets survive:

img0101 by HughieDW, on Flickr

So round the back of the villa and it’s looking far more promising:

img0104 by HughieDW, on Flickr

img0105 by HughieDW, on Flickr

Don’t look up!

img0107 by HughieDW, on Flickr

The first floor is quite shady:

img0109 by HughieDW, on Flickr

img0111 by HughieDW, on Flickr

img0110 by HughieDW, on Flickr

img0112 by HughieDW, on Flickr

Downstairs the place is pretty much gone too:

img0116 by HughieDW, on Flickr

img0117 by HughieDW, on Flickr

Some of the floors are completely through:

img0119 by HughieDW, on Flickr

And finally, this is a trace of the old wall painting:

img0121 by HughieDW, on Flickr