Villa Piovene is an important and characteristic villa in the Vento region, located a few steps from Villa Godi Malinverni in Lonedo di Lugo, in the hills of the upper Vicenza area. This extraordinary work is one of the Palladian villas included by UNESCO in the list of World Heritage Sites in 1996. To reach it, follow the road that climbs from the small town center through the green hills, and ends in the elegant gate, from which it is possible to see the graceful construction.

Wanted by Battista Piovene, this incredible work symbolizes the ancient rivalry that has long opposed the Piovene to the Godi, the central part of the building was built starting from 1539 on a project by Andrea Palladio. It was only later, in the mid-eighteenth century, that the architect Francesco Muttoni built the side barchesse, arranged the garden and built the double ramp staircase that leads to the loggia, which grafted onto the previous structure. Unfortunately, the interior of the villa is currently not open to visitors, given that the elderly Countess Piovene Porto Godi elected her his permanent residence, however, it is possible to console herself with the magnificent nineteenth-century park and historic garden.

Villa Piovene and Villa Godi were built in a sort of competition between the two families, which at the time were the most important in the area, so much so as to divide land and rents in the area. Despite numerous attempts to agree, the Godi family and the Piovene family were in constant dispute and the short truces were based, in reality, on very fragile foundations, so much so that soon the drama came.

In fact, their agreements to manage the complex exchange of land and rents broke when Tomaso Piovene purchased two waterwheel sawmills near the Astico river. Having purchased the business, the owner claimed the right to collect the taxes on it, on the other hand Godi was based on the agreement of 1533, which highlighted who was entitled to the money.

As time went on, instead of subsiding, the controversy escalated, and in 1577 Orazio Godi broke into the nearby villa of the Piovene, with evident intent to kill. After turning the apartments upside down, he managed to find Fabio Piovene locked in a closet, and after having let him out, he made him finish with his daggers. The Venetian rector did not tolerate such brutality, and judged that Count Godi should be captured and executed in Signori Square and his confiscated assets. To save himself, the count decided to escape into exile, thus spending the rest of his life in the service of the Duke of Savoy. It was precisely this exasperated desire to rival that prompted the Piovene to commission the same workers who had built Villa Godi.