The Vivaldi Pasqua villa, whose first planting dates back to the late 1700s, was built near the old San Mauro convent in the Villanova neighborhood. In 1799, the owner, Pietro Vivaldi Zatrillas, marquis of Trivigno Pasqua, declared “a garden for pleasure of extension one starello(4000 sq. m.) of land, planted with citrus trees.” In a notarial deed of 1801, the marquis lists work in the garden and villa he owns at Villanova in the Su Lioni locality. The Vivaldi Pasqua family, of Genoese origin, had moved to Sardinia in the late 1600s to manage – among others – the tuna fishery at Portoscuso and the Pontis fishpond in the Oristano area. The villa was probably a holiday and hunting residence, and possibly housed a silk-weaving business. Purchased by industrialist Marino Cao in the 1940s, together with the adjacent Villa Calvi (19th century), it was carefully restored in the 1970s by his daughter Rosabianca, the current owner. The garden is divided into a lower part, formerly used for vegetable gardens, and a hanging part, connected by a double-ramp staircase. In the lower part of the garden one can admire the small hanging arches of the Romanesque church of San bardilio, demolished in 1929. The hanging garden is framed by a scenic gloriette and two walled wings, giving it the appearance of a large open-air room. The facade of the villa is in the late 18th-century style. On the entrance door a bas-relief depicts a Moor in chains struggling in the waves, a reference to the Vivaldi’s possessions in Portoscuso, and to the struggles against the Arabs. The coat of arms of the Vivaldi Pasqua family, on the other hand, is located on the main floor. The original wall paintings, with phytomorphic bird motifs, are preserved in the inner hall. The former stables, now a banquet and reception hall, has five bays with pseudo-vaulted brick vaults and white tuff pillars.
