Villa La Pergolana
To the north of Lazise is villa La Pergolana, one of the most important, which incorporates a small monastery and the church of Santa Maria delle Grazie or Sanctuary of the Madonna della Pergolana dating back to the 16th century.
Villa La Pergolana It was entrusted in 1500 to Franciscan friars sent by the abbey of San Zeno who built a small convent here, a church dedicated to Santa Maria delle Grazie and a school, but in 1574, due to misunderstandings with the Municipality of Lazise, the activity ceased and the property was left to the Marcantonio Della Torre family; later the villa will also belong to the Giuliari, the Da Persico, the Verità , the Carteri, the Vicentini and then to Don Antonio Villa who remained canon until 1811. Among the various owners the last to intervene on the small church with new roofing, false ceiling, furniture for paintings, frescoes and furniture was such Caterina Zanetti. In 1856 it passed to the Conti Cavazzocca who, by architect Giacomo Franco, radically transformed the convent and adjoining land into a holiday residence, making the villa similar to a castle in the Lombard style, keeping the church and transforming the cloister of the old convent in the inner courtyard of the main building and with a large park that slopes towards the lake. The Church, which conserved inside it an altarpiece of the Annunciation attributed to the Brusasorzi; two large paintings by Sante Prunati depicting the Nativity and the Adoration of the Magi; a statue of the Virgin dating back to the fifteenth century, lost all its heritage in the sixties when it was looted; a recent restoration attempted to save what was left, in particular the fresco on the ceiling of the Assumption by Paolo Caliari.