text:
Food & Drink
How to vacation like Italian aristocracy
By Daisy Carrington, for CNN • Updated 2nd April 2014
View Gallery
7 Pictures
Count Leopoldo Marcello is being an awfully good sport.
He's opened his home to tourists, guided them through its grand halls and pointed out the exquisite frescoes, the work of 18th-century Venetian painter Giambattista Crosato.
His visitors, in turn, are forcing him to pose in an antique clerical hat.
The relic is one of many possessions on display in the villa.
Marcello smiles amicably as his guests snap away.
Sequins, silk and lace
Earlier, the count gave me, and a group of 20 like-minded travelers, a tour of his estate -- Ca'Marcello
(Via dei Marcello 13, Levada di Piobnino, Italy, +39 049 9350340; apartment rental: $5,427 a week; tours from $7
The space seems entirely too grand to simply house the count and his son, Jacapo.
The ballroom is plastered with 18th-century frescoes painted by the one of the most famous Italian artists of that century, Giambattista Tiepelo.
Mirrors are framed with eerily placid faces made from stucco.
MORE: Ten things Italy does best
Leopoldo and his son live in the villa, constructed by their ancestors in the 1500s. But in many ways it resembles a museum of bygone riches instead of an actual home.
One room features mannequins clad in sequinned, silk and lace gowns that once belonged to the matrons of the Marcello clan.
Relics from another era -- including antique century hair pins and opera glasses -- speckle the home.
Visitors can explore the surrounding 18th century park and garden; more than 968,000-square-feet of land presided over by an array of statues.
If that's not grand enough, you can rent a grand, 3,860-square-foot, four-bedroom apartment located in one of the villa's wings.
Those who really want a taste of the aristocratic lifestyle can book private meals with the Marcello family, avail themselves of the cook, or pluck fresh produce from the garden and make their own meal in the private kitchen.
For $7 all this can be yours at Ca'Marcello -- at least until the tour ends.
Courtesy of Ca'Marcello
And the counts are not only are they willing to wear funny hats, they'll also help arrange travel bookings around the Venetian countryside.
Cash-strapped counts
So why is the Marcello family, with a noble history that dates back 2,000 years to the Roman Empire, turning their 400-year old estate into a glorified B&B?
The answer is simple: money.
"We're not wealthy enough to live in this place as a home," admits Jacopo. "We need this activity to maintain it. Because of our visitors, we're able to do restorations year by year."
MORE: The dish-by-dish guide to Italy
Ca'Marcello is one of nearly 150 villas in Italy's Veneto region -- which includes Venice, Verona, Padua and Vicenza -- to have opened their doors to paying guests.
Last year, the group joined forces in a tourist-led cooperative called
Villa Veneto
The initiative was founded by Count Alberto Passi de Preposulo, a distinguished aristocrat with a well-trimmed white beard.
I met Passi de Preposulo at his home in Treviso, the 16th century Villa Tiepolo Passi (
31030 Carbonera, Treviso, Italy, +39 0422 39 77 90; tours from $7, advanced booking required
Clad in a dapper smoking jacket and custom-made loafers, he resembled a rather posh Santa Claus, especially as he was brandishing a jar of homemade quince jelly -- the ingredients sourced from his 3.2 million square feet landscaped garden.
He isn't the sort of man you'd imagine renting out his rooms to tourists or selling a place at his dinner table for a paltry €30 ($40) a head.
After all, he too heads up one of Italy's most respected clans -- one which recently celebrated its 1,000-year anniversary and whose family tree can be glimpsed painted on a wall inside the villa.
"Our money is finished," he admits, referring not just to himself but to the Veneto region's many landed gentry.
Aristocratic barista
I ask Countessa Carolina Valmarana -- the owner of the 17th-century Villa Valmarana (
Stradella dei Nani 8, Vicenza, Italy, +39 0444 321 803; apartment rental from $678 per week; tours from $7
) -- what would happen if she didn't open her home to lodgers and tours.
She admits it'd be a predicament.
MORE: Beyond Rome and Florence: Alternative Italian destinations
"These houses are so expensive to maintain. I actually know a friend that wants to sell it and she can't," she says. "They're very expensive and big and old -- people don't want to buy them because they don't know what to do with them," she says.
Jacopo admits that if he didn't inherit his stately home, it wouldn't be something he'd invest in.
"I wouldn't buy a place like this nowadays because it's enormous," he says. "The spaces are really grand, and we're just two people living in 9,000 square feet. In that way, it's a strange life, but it is also a unique kind of life."
Baroque stars Gianbattista and Giandomenico Tiepolo went to town on the decor at Villa Valmarana.
Courtesy Villa Valmarana
A few years ago, the countess decided to add a cafe and bar to the heritage status property and even took a degree course to qualify as a barista.
For the most part, she seems nonplussed about opening her historic home, which is adorned with baroque frescoes by celebrated father and son duo Gianbattista and Giandomenico Tiepolo.
"We have two apartments that we sometimes rent out to guests, but it's not like we're desperate to rent them; we like to do it. We have nice people that come to stay, people that are into art and love to be here."
Taxing times
So why are members of Italy's aristocracy struggling to afford the upkeep of their grand homes?
The counts have a number of theories.
MORE: Ten of the best Italian restaurants in Rome
Jacopo Marcello says his family's woes started after the Second World War, when nationalization stripped their land assets from 4,000 to 600 acres to support reconstruction and demobbed soldiers.
"Things changed, principles changed," he says.
"Now the aristocracy is just part of a big machine and every one of us needs to have a job to have a normal life."
Valmarana says a 2012 end to tax breaks for heritage homes also had a dramatic effect.
"Our taxes have gone up six-fold," she laments. "Though we do get rent, it all goes back into the house."
To ensure their preservation, the countess has to climate control the rooms in her house and complete constant repairs such as fixing a recent ceiling crack.
"The roof wasn't holding the four main doors properly," she recalls. Damage can endanger the frescoes, which already expensive to maintain.
Passi de Preposulo had a similar issue with a roof collapse at his villa.
He insists the money he makes from visitors is not lining his pocket, but goes solely into the upkeep of his estate, which, he points out, isn't merely his home, but an Italian landmark.
"I'm trying to protect this house, and the richness of our history, our roots, but it's expensive," he says.
A year of the world's
Best Beaches
There's a perfect beach for every week of the year. Join us on a 12-month journey to see them all
Go to the best beaches
Food & Drink
Go to top of page
© 2019 Cable News Network.
Turner Broadcasting System, Inc.
All Rights Reserved. CNN Sans ™ & © 2016 Cable News Network.
Terms of Use
Privacy Policy
About us
Work for us
License Footage
CNN Newsource


text:
Find YOUR Local Branch
Some ant species live in colonies that are supported by a single queen while others are supported by multiple queens. Although there are 1,000 ant species known in the U.S., there are relatively few that we commonly see as pests. These include:
(Linepithema humile)
(Solenopsis spp)
(Lasius niger)
(Tapinoma melanocephalum)
(Tapinoma sessile)
(Tetramorium caespitum)
(Monomorium pharaonis)
(Nylanderia fulva)
(Camponotus app)
(Technomyrmex difficilis)
Find YOUR Local BranchPlease try again...

subset: commoncrawl


text:
Master of Architecture Master of Architecture DT9100
- Postgraduate Taught
- Level 9
- 1 Year
- Part-Time
- Bolton Street
- School of Dublin School of Architecture
- College of Engineering and Built Environment
See DIT website
for details on
how to apply
Students may be required to attend classes at locations across the Institute.
Please note that the catalogue is provided as a guide to modules in DIT. Not all modules listed will necessarily be offered every year and new modules may also be added. Information subject to change. For detail on specific programmes/modules please contact the relevant School directly.


text:
Hotel Overview
The Griffin House Hotel offers affordable, contemporary accommodation with personal friendly service. Perfect for a weekend getaway or a 'home away from home' whilst on business.
We are a 3* hotel, situated near Marble Arch in the heart of Central London. Our location, just a 5 minute walk from the world-famous shops on Oxford Street and Hyde Park, is ideal for exploring all this exciting city has to offer.
Guests have a choice of double, twin, triple or single rooms, which are all equipped with flat-screen TV and stylish modern furniture. Wireless internet is available throughout the hotel and the reception desk is open 24 hours a day. A continental fresh breakfast is served every morning in our breakfast room.
Many of London's favourite attractions like Buckingham Palace, Trafalgar Square, the Houses of Parliament, Madame Tussauds and the theatres of the West End are within walking distance. Our multi-lingual staff will be happy to help you with planning your prefect visit.
Call or email us for bookings and inquiries or use the booking tool on this website. We look forward to welcoming you soon.
- Property type: Hotel
- Hotel class: 3 ***


text:
Find Your Perfect Home.
Ferrysburg Real Estate
Ferrysburg is located in Michigan. Ferrysburg, Michigan has a population of 2,993. Ferrysburg is less family-centric than the surrounding county with 17.71% of the households containing married families with children. The county average for households married with children is 37.24%.
The median household income in Ferrysburg, Michigan is $60,069. The median household income for the surrounding county is $58,160 compared to the national median of $53,482. The median age of people living in Ferrysburg is 50.4 years.
Ferrysburg Weather
The average high temperature in July is 81 degrees, with an average low temperature in January of 18.8 degrees. The average rainfall is approximately 36.5 inches per year, with inches of snow per year.
View Homes for Sale in Ferrysburg
Ferrysburg Map
Real Estate Near Ferrysburg
Nearby Cities
Nearby Cities Homes for Sale
Ferrysburg Zip Codes