At the beginning of XIV Century<\/strong>, the monks<\/strong> moved the administration centre from Concadalbero to Correzzola. Here, at the back of a bend of River Bacchiglione \u2013 an essential waterway for goods transportation also called \u201cVia del Sale\u201d (\u201cSalt way\u201d) \u2013 the monks built the majestic Benedictine Court<\/strong>, described by Paduan historian Andrea Gloria as \u201cthe biggest rural complex in Lombardia and Veneto\u201d. The monks built about ninety brickwork farmhouses with pantile roofs<\/strong> that were particularly comfortable compared to the thatched cottages popular in those days. All farmhouses were named after a Saint, whose portrayal was kept on the wall of the arcade. Among these buildings, the most important and even the most original from an architectural standpoint certainly was the \u201cGrande Vanezza\u201d, the second most important centre after the Court. It was built on the altimetrically highest point of all the surrounding lands to facilitate cattle breeding. Monastic farms were built with the purpose of satisfying all farming, stockpiling and processing needs of crops: each farmhouse was made of a living unit, a rural portion with a hayloft and a long arcade.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The buildings were designed to have their fa\u00e7ade turned to the South, and all of them had a wide farmyard called \u201cs\u00e8ese\u201d which was used to stock and dry harvested crops.<\/p>\n\n\n\n However, Correzzola Benedictine monks\u2019 true revolution consisted of a relevant improvement on territorial management: they divided the property in five \u201cgastaldie<\/strong>\u201d (royal demesne) which corresponded to today\u2019s municipality hamlets. Each royal demesne was given to a gastald, who usually was a person trusted by the Monastery, and was further split into smaller portions, which were let out to tenant farmers living in the farmhouses. This long story of wise Benedictine management on the area ended during the spring of 1797 at the hands of Napoleon<\/strong>, who short after (in 1807) appointed Francesco Melzi d\u2019Eril Duke of Lodi and donated him Correzzola\u2019s large landed estate. Therefore, the Court and its vast lands became property of the Lombard family, which managed it until 7 October 1919, when duchess Jos\u00e9phine started selling portions of the large landed estate to the resident farmers in order to be able to retire in Milan, where she died in 1923 at the age of 93. Melzi d\u2019Eril\u2019s family carried on Benedictine monks\u2019 reclamation work by building big draining pumps; they also altered the Benedictine Court from a stylistic point of view to better accommodate it to their aristocratic status whilst still preserving its core architecture.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Nowadays a portion<\/strong> of the Court belongs to the municipal<\/strong> district, while private citizens own the other.<\/p>\n\n\n\n After restoration works for the municipal district portion were completed in 1999, one wing of the Court has been used as back office, while another wing was transformed into a welcoming Bed & Breakfast<\/strong> called \u201cLa Corte\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Guided tours on foot, by bike or on horseback were worked out on safe routes not congested by cars, so that tourists can enjoy the verdant landscape and the numerous streams in tranquillity. During these tours, tourists can also sightsee the most interesting Benedictine farmhouses<\/strong>, which is a unique opportunity to admire a landscape that still recalls an evocative rural tradition.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Thanks to its closeness to naturalistic locations<\/strong> like Delta del Po\u2019 Park, Euganean Hills Park, Venice lagoon and Veneto coast, the Court is also a perfect starting point for excursions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Daily trips to close minor and major cities of art like Padua<\/a>, Vicenza<\/a>, Chioggia<\/a>, Este<\/a>, Montagnana<\/a> and Arqu\u00e0 Petrarca are available too.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" BENEDICTINE MONKS TOOK IT OUT OF THE MARSH It was 1129 when Giuditta Sanbonifacio transferred her Concadalbero Court properties to the abbot of Padua\u2019s Monastery of Santa Giustina. In this precarious and wide land, the monks boosted an astonishing millenary reclamation work along with a carefully planned territory management, which gave birth to a rationally […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"_joinchat":[],"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-576","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n
The very core of the Court was built<\/strong> between 1430 and 1450, while the last relevant addition to the building was planned between the end of 1500 and the first years of the following century, as a consequence to the decision of furnishing the Court with an abbey room and guest quarters. Furthermore, it was also decided to raise the building by a storey (for a total of three storeys), thus creating the level called \u201cmezzanine\u201d. Despite the huge dimensions<\/strong> of the Court, the number of monks was always low<\/strong>: on average, only a ten of them steadily lived in the complex, as the Court was not a religious centre, but it was the \u201cbig factory of Santa Giustina Benedictine Order\u201d as someone once defined it, so its commercial, farming and strategic functions prevailed over the religious.<\/p>\n\n\n\n![\"1\"](\"https:\/\/lacortehotel.info\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/05\/1-la-storia.jpg\")
<\/figure>\n\n\n\n![\"2\"](\"https:\/\/lacortehotel.info\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/05\/2-la-storia.jpg\")
<\/figure>\n\n\n\n
Territorial water system management was always carefully carried out: two cellarer monks, one in charge of sowing and harvesting and the other in charge of lands reclamation, planned and supervised the work. The territory was then supplied with a Benedictine road system, complemented by reclamation channels\u2019 banks that still cover the area lengthwise.<\/p>\n\n\n\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/lacortehotel.info\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/05\/storia-3.png\")
<\/figure>\n\n\n\n