A military hospital for flood victims

Built in the mid-19th century, Villa Papadopoli has served many different functions over the decades. It began as a manor and later served as a command post for the German army during the first world war. During the Fascist era, it became the headquarters for the Gioventù Italiana del Littorio.

In the second world war, the villa was used as a military hospital for those displaced by the floods in the Polesine region. It later housed an orthopedic-traumatic department and eventually became a nursing home until around 1990. Today, the property is owned by the municipality and has been decommissioned since the early 1990s.

The internal spaces are now split between the foresteria, which houses the civic library, and the nearby Rotonda, which serves as a cultural center. Visitors can still walk through the park today. The gardens were designed by Antonio Caregaro Negrin, who turned the botanical interests of the original owner into a sprawling landscape. In 1985, part of the perimeter wall was knocked down to open the view of the villa to the adjacent square.

Sources: Wikipedia, OpenStreetMap, Wikidata, Wikimedia Commons