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The Villa, which was constructed in the second
half of the 17th century for the Lovaria Family
whose descendents still live there, represents
a typical example of architecture which fuses
together the model of a country house in Friuli
with that of a noble Venetian Villa, endorsed
by a strong linear style and an extensive panorama.
The central tympanum, upon which there is the
fresco of the noble coat of arms, crowned by three
ornamental pinnacles and held up by pilaster strips
on high pedestals, appears to have been added
on in the second decade of the 19th century, when
the neoclassical decorative ornamentation of the
interior was carried out for the occasion of the
wedding of a Spanish relative of the Friuli branch
of the Lovaria Family.
The stone staircase with landings in square terra
cotta tiles, the stone paved floors in the kitchen
and the general rustic atmosphere all bear testimony
to the 17th century origin of the residence. The
flooring of the Venetian terrace and the decorated
briarroot doors with wooden frames of artificial
marble date back to its 18th century restyling.
The Villa is situated in Pavia di Udine, some
meters from the centre of the village. The main
façade of the villa is characterised by
three sequences of windows overlooking the street,
corresponding to the same number of floors, which
open onto the front courtyard surrounded by a
low stone wall draped with a century old wisteria,
over which dominates an undisputedly majestic,
ancient plane tree (circa 300 years – trunk
circumference 6.5 metres – 25 metres high),
with its gigantic trunk and impressionable, robust
branches some of which are practically horizontal
and fan out at a rather low height. This tree
is listed among the monumental trees of Italy
and the Friuli Venezia Giulia Region.
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“Trees like man are born, grow, confront
difficult moments, try to adapt to the toughness
and entrapments of the environment, continually
thrust higher and higher, and yet at the same
time are tenaciously committed to taking root
in the earth…”
(Francesco Cossiga, notorious President of the
Italian Republic, “Monumental Trees of Italy”
– Pine Trees Edition 1990).
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The Villa is one of a few to be still inhabited
by the same family which commissioned its construction
more than 350 years ago “…one of the
most prestigious families in Friuli, The Lovaria
Family was already inscribed as citizens of Udine
in 1432 and in 1442 the head of the family was
elected Noble Councillor of the City of Udine,
where he exercised the profession of notary public,
…. Vero di civiltà primo manto…(de
Rubeis – Chronicle of Noble Families of Udine
– Udine Public Library)”.
 When
the Republic of Venice became a dukedom on 10th
May, 1769, the title of Earl was bestowed upon
Dr. Bernardo Lovaria.
The continuity of the Lovaria Family in Friuli
is thanks to the priest Antonio Lovaria, who at
the beginning of the 1800s invited his cousin
Giuseppe, a member of the Spanish branch of the
family, to return to Italy. Giuseppe came to Udine
in 1818 and took up residence in the house of
his cousin Antonio on via Santa Maria Maddalena,
now via Lovaria, in the historical centre of the
city, and received his estate, a part of which
included the Villa and agricultural estate, from
an ecclesiastic donation.
In 1822, Giuseppe Lovaria married Verdelaura
Tartagna, daughter of Earl Ottaviano, assuring
the continuity of the family through his children.
Antonio (1888 – 1980), father and grandfather
of the present proprietors and descendant of Fabio
Lovaria (1856 – 1932) married Countess Carla
Petitti of Roreto (1921), daughter of Carlo, Armed
General during the First World War and Governor
of Trieste, which became an Italian City at the
end of the war.
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