Ca' Marcello

Having travelled to Europe frequently we thought it would be interesting to do something different and go to northern Italy with two other couples and rent a villa as a base instead of traveling to a different city and hotel every 2-4 days. My girlfriend’s long time travel agent sent us a link to Ca’ Marcello, among others, and we all agreed that was the one and we booked it for three weeks in June. The villa was built by the Marcello family, an Italian noble family, in 1530. Nearly six hundred years later it is still in the same family! It is located roughly 30 miles west of Venice. We were greeted by our host Jacopo Marcello, a wonderful gentleman who is technically a count, but is nearly always in shorts, sandals and a t-shirt. He speaks English beautifully and with an American accent. When he was younger he lived in the states for several years before returning home to take over the care and operation of the villa from his father. On arrival Jacopo gave us a handbook for the area and had many recommendations for dining, day trips and site-seeing, as well as grocery and wine shopping. He also has an incredible knowledge of history in general and the Veneto in particular, and the important role his family played in it. A truly fascinating man. The family rents a wing of the villa with a two story apartment that includes 4 bedrooms, 3 baths, a modern kitchen with dining table, a living room and on the ground level a colonnade where we ate most of our meals when we cooked in. On three occasions we had Jacopo cater delicious meals for us. The accommodations include a private back garden with lawn and swimming pool. The villa grounds are about 18 acres with numerous trails among the gardens and trees. You can feel the history. They also rent the main house as a wedding venue and over our three weeks there were several weddings, but our area was still separate and private. The entire property is meticulously maintained. There are a number of small and medium sized cities within an hour or two of the villa. We had a rental car but also used the train on several occasions to explore the Veneto, an area we had never visited. This was unlike any vacation any of us had ever taken. We really felt we had our own apartment where we could unpack and relax without having to move on to the next destination every few days. We did things together, but each couple could also go off on their own adventure. I want to thank Jacopo and his wonderful wife Roberta for making this a unique and exceptional experience and I highly recommend Ca’ Marcello. Michael On San Juan