Bevilacqua

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Bevilacqua is a comune with 1,927 inhabitants in the province of Verona, Italy. ^[1]

[edit] History

The Comune di Bevilacqua began as a settlement of ancient Venetic people on the banks of the Adige River, documented to 589 A. D. The fortification of this settlement eventually came to be known as the Bevilacqua Castle, located in the Principality of Bevilacqua established on May 7, 1059.

In the 14th century, Count Guglielmo Bevilacqua began a restoration and expansion of the castle, completed by his son Francesco. In 1532, Count Gianfrancesco Bevilacqua commissioned Michele Sanmicheli to completely renovate the medieval building and convert it into a villa with a new and more comfortable interior. In 1756, Count Gaetano Ippolito Bevilacqua renovated part of the castle. After damage caused during the Napoleonic wars at the beginning of the 19th century, the castle was set on fire by Austrian troops in 1848. After 1860, Baroness Felicita La Masa Bevilacqua had the castle renovated in successive stages. The external walls were decorated with merlons and the entire building acquired a neo-gothic savour in line with the romantic spirit of that time.

In 1932, the family donated the castle to the Italian state and commissioned Engineer Eleuterio Mutto's design for converting the castle into a nursing home ("Asilo di Quiete Bevilacqua-La Masa"). In 1945 the castle was entrusted to the Salesian Society, who used it as a boarding school until 1966. In 1980, the castle underwent a total restoration program aimed at the architectural recovery of the magnificence of the 16th century.

The Bevilacqua Castle is situated between Padova and Verona, and 5 km from Montagnana; it has been meticulously maintained and restored and is open to visitors. The external medieval architecture encloses a 16th century interior ascribed to the famous architect Michele Sanmicheli. The first floor offers room to accommodate up to 500 guests and is surrounded on three sides by a hanging garden. The internal court, with its porticos, offers additional room for buffets or special evenings. The Bevilacqua Castle also hosts a standing exhibition of antique furniture.

Famiglie Celebri Italiane, published in 1819 and written by Count Pompeo Litta (1781-1852), detailed the biographical and genealogical records of the most celebrated and influential one hundred families of Italy. His work included the Bevilacqua family. Pompeo Litta utilized several biographies and genealogies about the Bevilacqua family as references for his work, including: The Origin of the Most Illustrious Family of the Gentleman Count Ercole Bevilacqua by Adriano Valerini in 1578, Totius Bevilacqua by Sebastiano delle Donne and Girolamo Stringario in 1584, Famiglia Bevilacqua by Vittorio Baldini in 1606, Genealogy of the Bevilacqua Family by Francesco Luzzi in 1626, Biographical Traits of the Marquis Bevilacqua of Ferrara by Ratta in 1750 and The Story and Memory of the Noble Family Bevilacqua by Antonio Frizzi, written in Parma during 1779. 123456789

[edit] Trivia

Bevilacqua is also an Italian surname, the meaning of which is not really clear though. If literally translated, infact, it means drink the water (from Italian bevi l’acqua, also interpreted as tea totaler) and it is interesting to note the existence of its many equivalent throughout Europe (Drinkwater in England, Boileau in France, Trinkwasser in Germany, Vodopivec in the former Yugoslav countries, etc). As a matter of fact, it seems that all of these surnames derive from a medieval personal name (most likely a nickname at first, maybe indicating a social or religious status), but the real meaning of the name remains uncertain.