The history of Villa de Winckels
Immersed in a green oasis of silence, in a garden of secular trees in the splendid Illasi Valley, between Valpolicella and Lessinia hills, Villa de Winckels is the testimony an almost one thousand year history and of the effort of the Merzari family to preserve its value to this day.
Built between 1100 and 1300, Villa de Winckels is the careful result of numerous interventions of enlargement and restoration, with a complete attention to safeguard its history.
In 1300 the Villa was annexed to the Monastery of Saint George in Braida, comprehending a second court in the South and a wood hillside, called Castelletto ( little castle) for the remains of an ancient guard tower from the Middle Ages in which you can find even today the Torretta(little tower), which today welcomes the most fascinating room of the building of that era.
Medieval fort before and monastery later, th Villa became the home of the Asburg general De Winckels, who promoted the restoration; in the 20th century the architect Guido Pigozzi carried out interventions of structural reinforcement, enabling the conservation of the history of the building.
Since 1990 Villa de Winckels, risking being abandoned, was recuperated by the Merzari brothers- Ottavio, Massimo and Roberto- who,with passion and dedication, brought it back to its ancient splendour and inaugurated the activity in 1992.
Villa de Winckels has been inserted in the list of the Veneto Villas by the Regional Institute that safeguards them and has achieved the Silver Crown from the Certification Commission of Residences of the era, after having passed 25 annual Quality Controls which ensure the maximum historical.artistic and cultural relevance.
