SHARRYLAND
Where is
What it is and where it is
Villa Beatrice d'Este, or Villa Beatrice, stands on the summit of Mount Gemola in the Euganean Hills. Its structures more than a villa resemble a monastic complex, with a masonry enclosure that contained the convent, church and cloister, to which a farm with related barchesse were added between the 19th and early 20th centuries. Indeed, this is precisely the origin of the buildings we still see today; indeed, the very name of the complex is further confirmation of this fact: Blessed Beatrice I d'Este was in fact the founder of this place of retreat and prayer.
Why it is special
At Villa Beatrice the different types of environments and the wealth of biodiversity encountered here, as in many other places in the Euganean Hills, create a true open-air nature museum: fungi, insects, plants, wetland animals, birds, mammals, mollusks, amphibians, reptiles, and much more. But the display continues inside with the nature museum installed here at the behest of the Province of Padua.
Not to be missed
It may be the wide and gentle view of the Euganean Hills, it may be the spirituality that is still felt here, but the bond with the founder of the monastery is still very much felt here. That is why, every year, the Association "La Corte Medioevale" revives the historic event of Beatrice d'Este's arrival at the monastery on Mount Gemola, along with the context of the Court of the Estensi, composed of nobles, ladies, knights, armigers, troubadours, master craftsmen and commoners.
A bit of history
It was 1221 when Beatrice decided "to flee worldly society and the sinful attractions of the court, and to associate humbly, as in a haven of peace, with people who sought and feared God." The monastery dedicated to St. John the Baptist survived for more than three and a half centuries, spreading its foundress' reputation for holiness. It was abandoned in the late 1500s and then turned into a country estate in the 1600s. In 1972 it was purchased by the Province of Padua, which made it a nature museum following some restoration work.
Trivia
Beatrice I, from an early age felt that she belonged to God. She had a little lamb, which followed her everywhere. One night, she heard herself called by the animal's bleating; she found it in the garden surrounded by light, and she knew she had to embark on her journey of faith. Her betrothed, Ottrone, tried to block her in the night, but the vision of her dressed as a bride in the snow brought him to his knees. The man wandered for a long time in despair, before meeting St. Francis and founding himself a monastery at Monte Fasolo, just across from Mount Gemola where his former beloved had retired in meditation.
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