In my opinion, the pretty Euganean Hills make for one of the best day-trips out of Padua. We loved both hiking through its bucolic landscapes and exploring the cute villages with their super well-preserved medieval cores.

One of the nicest places we came across in the area is the Baroque-era garden of the Villa Barbarigo, which is also known as “The Little Versailles” and was voted Italy’s most beautiful garden by the national garden network in 2003.

We could definitely see where they were coming from. There are lots of pretty canals, plenty of historic statues and interesting architectural elements, countless fountains and flowering bushes, a unique rabbit island and a super cool maze. Here’s everything you need to know about visiting Villa Barbarigo Garden.

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Guided Tours to the Garden

Without your own transport, the easiest way to get around the Euganean Hills would be to take an organized tour from Padua. For instance, this tour includes both entrance to the garden as well as the famous Villa Vescovi in nearby Luvigliano, transport and a local guide.

What is There to See in the Garden?

The Garden Area

The complex was constructed between 1665 and 1696, and is a perfect example of the typical Baroque-style gardening tradition, in which natural and man-made features are put together into a beautiful combination.

There are plenty of statues of mythological and allegorical figures all over the grounds – my favourite was the statue of Chronos, which is the classical Greek representation of time in the form of an Old Man.

The central avenue runs through the garden from north to south along a series of ponds where we spotted plenty of swans and ducks, as well as the occasional turtle. At the southern end stands the beautiful Diana’s Pavilion, which used to be the entrance to the garden.

In the northwestern corner is also an allegorical Hermit’s Grotto. Another cool feature is the little rabbit island, where we saw lots of the namesake inhabitants.

The Villa Barbarigo itself is still in use, so it’s unfortunately not open to the public, but we were still able to have a look at the outside from the eastern end of the main east-west pathway. A bit to the south from there are the villa’s former stables, where a small food truck sells snacks and drinks.

The Labyrinth

Villa Barbarigo’s historic maze dates to the second half of the 17th century and is said to be made of 6,000 boxwood plants. They call it a labyrinth, but it’s actually a maze (sorry for being pedantic), which we were happy to discover, as it made navigating the place at least a bit of a challenge.

Indeed, we found plenty of dead ends, and as the path through the maze is supposed to represent the way to salvation, lots of them had signboards with moral lessons (I totally fell prey to the Arrogance:).

The general admission ticket to the garden lets you climb the central viewing tower, but if you want to explore the 1.5km-long pathways of the maze, you’ll need a separate timed ticket, which was 5.90€ when we were there. It’s a lot of fun and I recommend getting one when you buy your general garden ticket.

Map of the Garden

You can find all the spots that I mentioned in this map of the Villa Barbarigo Garden.

Practicalities

What Are the Opening Times?

The opening times differ throughout the year and depending on the weekday. You can check the current times here.

The labyrinth has slightly different opening times, that you can also see on the website. You’ll get a time slot when buying your ticket at the entrance.

I recommend visiting the garden as soon as it opens or coming a bit before it closes, so it won’t be too busy. Make sure you bring enough time, though. With a visit to the maze, we spent about two hours here.

We came right when the garden opened and had many parts of it to ourselves, but when we left around noon, it started getting really busy.

How Much is the Entrance Fee?

The entrance fee is now 14€ for adults and 7€ for children, and the maze costs an extra 5.90€. It’s not exactly cheap, but we found the price fair for the large and well-kept garden, especially since they don’t get any state aid, so most of the profits go into the upkeep of the place.

How to Get to Villa Barbarigo Garden

We rented a car, which was the easiest way to explore the area. Otherwise, you can get to Valsanzibio by public bus, but you’ll need to do a bit of pre-planning.

Bus number E006 from Padua to Este passes through the village. It takes about an hour and at the time of writing only goes three times a day. You can check the current timetable of Padua’s suburban buses on this site.

At the time of writing, the first possible bus you can take from Padua reaches Valsanzibio at 12.45pm, and the last return bus leaves at 2pm, which gives you only about an hour to explore the garden. If you want more time, I suggest either getting a rental car or taking a guided tour.

If you want to rent a car in Padua (or elsewhere), have a look below to find the best deals:

Other Things to Do in the Euganean Hills

We combined Villa Barbarigo with other cool sights in the area. Check out my travel guide to the Euganean Hills!