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“The trouble with Italy,” I once heard an Australian tourist remark, “is that there are too many museums and churches.” If that is so, then there are equally “too many” villas in the Veneto. This is Palladio country and beautiful villas are scattered everywhere, serene and timeless in the landscape. However, there is one which stands out as utterly unlike all the rest: Villa Selvatico in the small town of Battaglia Terme.

I first came to know it when I