Villa Emo, eight kilometres east of Castelfranco at Fanzolo, is one of Andrea Palladio's most influential and most copied country houses. Designed and built between 1559 and 1565 for the Emo family, it presents a beautifully balanced facade — a pedimented central block with a four-column Doric loggia, flanked by long single-storey barchesse ending in dovecote towers. The whole composition stretches over a hundred metres along the road.
Inside, the rooms are decorated with frescoes by Giovanni Battista Zelotti, depicting allegories, classical landscapes, and mythological scenes. The colours are exceptionally well-preserved. The villa is a UNESCO World Heritage site (as one of Palladio's villas in the Veneto) and remains in private ownership, but is open to the public on most days from spring to autumn. Allow a couple of hours, and try to come in afternoon light when the southern facade glows.