Dominio di Bagnoli: Unique Winery with 1000 Years of History

Dominio di Bagnoli is a beautiful and unique property to visit in Veneto with over 1000 years of history. The Dominio Bagnoli estate has attracted famous artists and poets from Venice across the centuries, serving their Friularo wine produced on site. Nowadays, it remains a farm, a winery, a lovely place to tour for the day, a fantastic place to spend the night, and a destination for stunning weddings.

From its humble origins as a farm, Dominio di Bagnoli has an eclectic collection of buildings ranging in style and original use. The property was once a Benedictine monastery between the 10th and 13th centuries. In the 1600s, the owners constructed Villa Widmann-Borletti as the largest monumental complex in Veneto on top of the old abbey. Its Italian-style gardens and elaborate buildings made it a prime holiday dwelling and gathering place for nobility and artists alike.

In this travel blog post about Dominio di Bagnoli, I'm going to share a brief history of this sensational property and how you can plan your visit. Justin and I toured the gardens, the farm and the cellar for the day, though you can also spend the night. It's a peaceful environment and great home base for exploring the Veneto region.

A Brief History of Dominio di Bagnoli

Over 1000 years of history exist at Dominio di Bagnoli. In 954 AD, the first records of activity here are primarily farming. Benedictine monks settled here from the year 1000. Between the years 1000 and 1300, they built the cellars, the stores, the granaries, the courtyard and the "Brolo" (vegetable garden and fruit orchard).

In 1656, Ludovico Widmann came to own the property and commissioned the architect Baldassarre Longhena to construct the villa. Villa Widmann-Borletti was built on top of the basement of the former abbey. The collection of buildings became the biggest and most important monumental complex in Veneto for its size and beauty.

Aside from the villa itself, the complex included many of the old medieval buildings, as well as the theatre, the cellars, the barns, the horse stables, the ice-house and the dovecote tower. This luxurious home attracted many famous artists and poets, including Carlo Goldoni. He wrote several of his plays while staying at the villa and staged them in its theater, on occasion performing as an actor, too.

Other famous guests at the villa included Venetian artist, Antonio Bonazza, and notable poets, Ruzante and Pastò. In fact, the three apartments where you can spend the night are named for three of Dominio di Bagnoli's famous guests, Ruzante, Pastò and Goldoni. Nowadays, the property is owned and managed by the Borletti family.

Stay at Agriturismo Dominio di Bagnoli

While Justin and I only made a half day trip and tour to Dominio di Bagnoli, you can spend the night here for a relaxing farm stay experience. For a unique trip to Veneto and Italy, stay at the Agriturismo Dominio di Bagnoli.

There are three apartments that you can rent on site that are old stables, completely renovated and decorated to create a real farm house atmosphere. Choose one of three apartments: Ruzante, Pasto or Goldoni. This is rated as a sustainable property that combines country living with modern amenities.

Gardens and Property

One of the main highlights of visiting Dominio di Bagnoli are the elaborate and gorgeous gardens. The sculpted Italian-style garden was created in the mid-1700s. It's home to 160 statues created by Venetian artist, Antonio Bonazza. The collection of statues at the front of the villa depict the 12 zodiac signs, Greek divinities, and other statues. There are also statues that portray the characters of the Commedia dell'Arte.

When you take a tour here, you aren't permitted to enter the villa itself. However, you can take a stroll around the gardens and the Brolo, the old monastery's vegetable patch and fruit orchard. It's also worth taking a walk beyond the high medieval walls to discover the small lakes towards the back of the property. You may spot some wildlife here, including geese, herons, bitterns, kingfishers and birds of prey.

The vineyard is grown and cultivated using traditional methods with small apricot trees between the vines. There are also rare varieties of peach and pear trees growing in the orchard. We spotted a peacock strutting around the lawn along the vineyard. Unique chickens also live on the property where they roam freely between their coops and the grounds.

We also took a tour of the 16th century granary, now used for weddings and special events. There used to be a wooden floor overtop of the bricks, but they needed to be removed to keep the space within fire codes. When they removed the wooden floor, they discovered old wheat grains, hundreds of years old, that were thought to be lost. Miraculously, they've germinated those old seeds and created flour from it, making it possible to eat the same bread as Venetians did centuries earlier.

Dominio di Bagnoli Winery

Bagnoli DOC is a wine appellation in the southern end of Veneto near the Adriatic Sea. Its borders include the Adige river to the south and the Bacchiglione river to the north. A wine appellation is a defined wine producing area by an authoritative body that are bound by specific requirements and qualities. They are smaller and more specific than entire wine regions.

The Bagnoli DOC was officially established in 1995, but wine making goes way back here, likely for thousands of years. The appellation is most known for the ancient Friularo grape, also known as Raboso, an indigenous Italian grape variety. These wines have a higher appellation called Friularo D.O.C.G., and are both robust and complex in nature.

Dominio di Bagnoli produces outstanding Friularo DOCG wines, although they produce many varieties of wine here. You'll find white, red, young and old wines in their cellar. Bagnoli's sparkling wines are made with Friularo's grapes in a classic method by allowing the wine to ferment in the bottle.

They've also experimented in creating special wines by harvesting the Friularo grape later in the season. Some of these late harvested grapes are used to make their dessert wine as well. When you visit Dominio di Bagnoli, you can take a tour of the cellar or participate in a wine tasting.

Weddings at Dominio di Bagnoli

Dominio di Bagnoli is a dreamy place to host your destination wedding. There's a stunning and romantic atmosphere whether you choose to have your wedding indoors or outdoors in the garden. There are six available spaces for a wedding: the 6th century cellar, the 6th century Granary Santo Spirito, the 6th century Grana Madonna delle Messi, an agritourism space, the gardens, or the villa.

The six spaces offer different vibes with something for every taste and size of wedding. They welcome weddings from 70 guests up to 800 guests. Take a look at the official website for weddings for more details and how to inquire.

Getting There

Dominio di Bagnoli is located in Bagnoli di Sopra near Padua. The closest major city and airport is Venice, which is likely where you will pick up your rental car to travel there. You can rent a car in Venice or at the Venice international airport and make many stops along the way. Compare car rental prices here in order to find the best rates on rental cars (I love Discover Cars and highly recommend them!).

You can also take the bus or train to Bagnoli di Sopra quite easily. Rome 2 Rio is my favorite website when it comes to figuring out how to get from point A to point B using public transportation.

As I mentioned above, we embarked on a day tour to Dominio di Bagnoli on a barge cruise with European Waterways aboard La Bella Vita. Our Italian barge cruise ventured to destinations like Pellestrina, Chioggia, Adria, Ferrara and Mantua. I love visiting lesser known destinations by small ships or boats. It's a very relaxed way to travel.

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