Design of the first Papadopoli residence at San Polo was initially commissioned to Giuseppe Jappelli, the architect behind the Pedrocchi café in Padua; the result however was not appreciated by Count Spiridione and his wife, Countess Teresina Mosconi, the latter preferring to entrust the job to Francesco Bagnara, set designer for the “La Fenice” Theatre and a lecturer at the Academy of Fine Arts.

In San Polo, Bagnara designed a square building with a crenelated tower on each corner, set in a park of more than 12 hectares, which was also described in numerous sources from this period.

The obvious references to the neo-Gothic style, together with the ancient vocation of this place explain how come the name “Castello” appears on all the documents of the Papadopoli family that mention this building and how it has, over time, become a normal way of referring to it by the inhabitants of San Polo.... read more →