Not far from Venice, one of the most renowned villas of the Riviera del Brenta (among them Villa Malcontenta, Villa Pisani, and Villa Widmann) is Villa Foscarini-Rossi, a 17th-century architectural complex located in Stra. It was built in the Palladian style on commission from Andrea and Alvise Foscarini and completed in the 18th century.
The aristocratic Foscarini family, aiming to enhance their prestige as was customary, enlisted the best architects (Vincenzo Scamozzi, Francesco Contini, and Giuseppe Jappelli) as well as painters and decorators like Pietro Liberi and Domenico de Bruni to accomplish the task. The family had already given the Serenissima a Captain of the Sea and a Doge. Indeed, Procurator Marco Foscarini was elected Doge in 1762, but the villa also hosted other notable figures such as Gaspare Gozzi and Luigi Negrelli.
Popular tradition tells that even today, on midsummer solstice nights of years ending in zero or five, the ghost of Emma, a Venetian noblewoman who stayed there for several weeks, can be heard wandering the villa. The villa also boasts a vast park with exquisite sculptures.
The Riviera del Brenta is also a very important footwear district, consisting of more than 500 companies that employ about 10,000 workers and produce an average of 19 million pairs of shoes annually, most of which are for export. These companies specialize in the design and production of luxury women’s footwear and collaborate with some of the most important luxury brands.
Luigino Rossi, who in the late 1940s founded Rossimoda together with his brothers, today part of the LVMH Group, is one of the key entrepreneurs of the district. Currently the owner of the villa complex, he decided in the early 1990s to create within Villa Foscarini (since then Villa Foscarini Rossi) a Shoe Museum, exhibiting the most representative pieces created by the company during its history. The museum was inaugurated on June 24, 1995, marking the 50th anniversary of the company’s activity.
The Shoe Museum houses a collection of over 1,500 models of luxury women’s footwear (created with brands such as Pucci, Calvin Klein, Dior, Fendi, Kenzo, etc.). In addition to narrating the entrepreneurial journey of the Rossi family and the relationships established by the company with the greatest fashion houses, the museum’s mission is to preserve the local craftsmanship, promote knowledge of the footwear tradition of the Riviera del Brenta, and document the evolution of style and fashion in the second half of the twentieth century.
Moreover, the museum hosts a variety of events, including temporary exhibitions, concerts, book presentations, and guided tours in period costume.
Luigino Rossi is also a respected and passionate collector of modern and contemporary art. He is one of the most important collectors of Andy Warhol, for example. Contemporary art pieces are often found inside the villa, and part of the collection is on display. The meticulous restoration, commissioned by Rossi in the 1990s, which enhanced the pure architectural lines and the important frescoes, was carried out with the intention of making the complex—villa and guesthouse—a living space as it was originally conceived and desired by the noble Foscarini family. For example, by enhancing the vast 170-square-meter hall that can accommodate up to 300 people. A dream come true for Luigino Rossi, patron and shoemaker, who was named Commendatore by the President of the Italian Republic in 1991.