Welcome to Villa Gallici Deciani, a magnificent 18th century villa in Friuli Venezia Giulia. For over a quarter of a century it has served as the perfect location for a wide range of events. These include weddings, receptions, concerts, meetings, seminars, film and fashion shoots, residential workshops, promotional events - and family reunions and holidays.
The estate has beautiful landscaped gardens planted with majestic trees and 30 acres of surrounding parkland. The rolling hills of Friuli lie to the south, and there are spectacular views of the Alps to the north. Villa Gallici Deciani has superb public spaces including a ballroom, a music room, two drawing-rooms, a private dining room, a spacious loggia and an elegant breakfast room overlooking fields and paddocks. There are 12 bedrooms and apartments, all elegantly furnished with fine antiques and paintings. Guests enjoy the use of a private swimming pool in a tranquil walled garden. For further information on organizing events or staying at the villa, please contact Maddalena at info@deciani.it.
History
Villa Gallici Deciani is the private residence of Count Luigi Deciani and has been open to the public since 1987. The Deciani family are a distinguished local dynasty who have been prominent in the Friuli region since the 14th century. One of the most illustrious family members was the 16th century law scholar, Tiberio Deciani, whose works on penal law are still required reading in Italian universities. In recent times Luigi's mother, Countess Giulia Gattaneo Deciani, was a popular and much-loved senior nurse with the Red Cross and a heroine of the Italian Resistance. She also established a ground-breaking and much-copied flower cultivation business at the villa some years after the war.
The villa in its present form was built on the site of an ancient fortification, one of many in this strategically important area of north eastern Italy. It has belonged to Luigi's family since the late nineteenth century following his grandfather's marriage into the Gallici family, a enterprising dynasty from Bergamo who settled in Udine in the 17th century, founding various thriving enterprises including a printing press and a farming project that experimented with advanced agricultural techniques.
The villa sustained a certain amount of damage during the Second World War when it was occupied first by the Wehrmacht and subsequently by the Allies (for a fascinating account of the post-war years of the villa, see www.bernstein.ws.), Despite these setbacks, the villa survived with much of its 18th century splendour still intact. In addition to elegant stucco work throughout the palatial public spaces, the villa is notable for its superb mosaic floors in the 'Terrazzo Veneziano' style. Further damage was sustained in 1976 when the Friuli region was devasted by a massive earthquake. Though this rendered the villa temporarily uninhabitable, Luigi was able to stabilise and fully restore the structure, bringing the building back to its original condition. This proved to be a rewarding but time-consuming project involving the participation both of local craftsmen and experts from further afield. Finally, in 1987, the Decianis were able to take up residence and open the villa to the public.
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