Castello di Roncade

Castello di Roncade was originally built over the ruins of a 10th-century castle, donated by Emperor Otto II, and was rebuilt in the 16th century by Girolamo Giustinian, a Venetian aristocrat. In 1495 Girolamo Badoer left the estate to his daughter Agnesina, who first married Benedetto Badoer and, after being widowed, married Girolamo Giustinian. Agnesina and her second husband built a villa, begun in 1514 and completed in 1529.

The villa remained in the Giustinian family until 1915, when it was acquired by the Ciani Bassetti family. The Ciani Bassetti barons, with deep agricultural roots in Trentino, revitalized the estate through architectural restoration and vineyard replanting, laying the foundations for the wine production — including Prosecco — that characterizes the property today.

The original 10th-century castle's connection to a donation by Emperor Otto II ties Roncade to the broader pattern of Holy Roman Emperors granting territorial control to local nobility as a means of consolidating imperial authority in northern Italy.

Agnesina's role — inheriting the estate, then building the villa with her second husband after being widowed — reflects a genuine instance of a noblewoman directing a major architectural project in early 16th-century Venetian territory, rather than the more commonly documented male patronage of the era.

The Ciani Bassetti family's Trentino agricultural background, applied to reviving Roncade's vineyards after 1915, connects two distinct Italian wine-growing traditions — Trentino's Alpine viticulture and the Veneto's Prosecco lowlands — within a single family's stewardship.

The estate's proximity to Venice's Marco Polo Airport makes Castello di Roncade a practical first- or last-night stay for travelers visiting Venice without sleeping in the city itself, alongside its direct access to the Conegliano-Valdobbiadene Prosecco wine route.