La facciata di Villa Soranzo, detta "La Soranza", a Flesso d’Artico = The facade of Villa Soranzo also known as "La Soranza", in Fiesso d'Artico

The complex of Villa Soranzo, also known as “la Soranza”, is situated in the municipality of Fiesso d'Artico and belongs to the group of luxurious residences built between the 15th and 18th centuries on the strip of land crossed by the Naviglio del Brenta waterway, an old trade route connecting the Venetian Lagoon to Padua. Surrounded by a wide garden and park with some rather valuable tree species, this residence appears as a solid cubic building erected between the end of the 16th century and the beginning of the 17th. The plan shows the classical tripartite scheme typical of Palladian villas, with a central T-shaped, passing-through hall, and side rooms.
The plain and rigid architectural structure, with the rectangular front part showing a marked symmetry, is set against a range of 16th-century frescoes decorating its façade, further enriching and completing the ‘full elements’ of it, thus articulating the architectural and pictorial elements with rhythm and elegance. The illusion created is able to break through the masonry structure and reveal the presence of several red plastered rooms, whose pillars are decorated with Ionic pilasters, supporting round arches that end up in a valuable coffered ceiling. Real and trompe-l’œil windows alternate, with reality and illusion masterly mingling with each other, among the talking or gestures of depicted characters, thus satisfying a precise iconographic plan focused on enhancing and raising the moral standards of the public functions of the commissioner.
Following a detailed photographic survey with about 400 photographs delivered, a high-resolution orthophoto was processed with the Photoscan program, which was the kickoff phase for the study and analysis of the façade, with special attention drawn to the wide pictorial scene divided into four walls.
The comparison between the built half of the façade showing the actual holes and the geometrical matrixes, and the corresponding half of it, whose architectural layout is enriched with the pictorial decorations, immediately leads to understand the painter’s intention, i.e. enhancing the plain, simple wall by means of classical language easy to read and recognize through its stylistic elements. Although fictitiously, the façade no longer uses the two-dimensional limit of traditional plastered walls and expands through space, virtually acquiring a refined, winning complexity and depth. The external presence of a fresco of this size is not common, albeit in the main façade; however, the geographical position of the villa, especially of the perfectly visible wall at a close distance from the road and the canal, accounts for this pictorial effort.
The presence of mythological figures being the mouthpieces of specific iconographic messages, and the strategic position of the fresco overlooking the canal, lead to the assumption that the typical skené of a theatre performance is being depicted. From its origin as a mobile theatre background, to its transformation into a fixed wall support, it evokes painting of scenic elements similar to those that can still be seen in Pompeii and associated with the so-called ‘façades on parade’ described by Vitruvius. In this villa, the presence of atriums with columns draws inspiration from the Second Pompeian style, with the architectural theme prevailing over the ornamental geometrical motifs of the First style. Moreover, the massive presence of the red plaster inevitably draws attention to the Third Pompeian style and to the deeply-rooted tradition of creating monochrome deep red backgrounds as a setting for the characters. The display of openings, friezes, balustrades, half-columns, niches and architraves thus uses an accurate and timely figurative vocabulary of Roman Hellenisti