Historical signs

"Anciently, the owner of the actually estate of Costavecchia were the Fathers of the convent of S. Domenico in Mantova. Probably the lands has always been granted leasing. The last tenant, from 1772 to 1773, was the count Francesco Mezzanelli of Verona. In 1789 the convent of the city was suppressed by the Austrians, and again in 1801 by the French of Napoleon who confiscated the estate of Corte Costavecchia and was listed under the name of the “Department of the Mincio”. In the beginning of the following year (1802) the department of the Mincio alienated some small parts of the land and in 1807 as payment for their duties the workers of the land inherited this. Two of the inheritants were the cousins Angelo and Domenico Sissa of Revere and Ubaldo Bonanomi of Luzzara. The remaining estate was inherited by Bonanomi of Luzzara who revenged the Costavecchia. Following the distribution the land was reduced to two hundred “biolche” and was donated to the priest Don Giuseppe Raimondi of Verona. Within a decade, the priest used his wealth and magnified the estate to six hundred “biolche”. This improved the irrigation system of the surrounding land and he purchased the rights to the surrounding waters and other existing estates. The priest was ambitious in his development and hoped to transform the land so that it would become profitable in the production of wheat, maize, lawn, rice and various measures, like the neighbouring lands of Costa Nuova. The priest was successfull and so began what would later became the actually Costavecchia. In 1817 the priest was declared bankrupt by the “Court of Commerce of Mantova” who took the land. It was then purchased by Francesco Moro and then by Francesco Vicentini whose wife had purchased the estate in 1822 by auction, they developed the land which became 539 “biolche” by 1833. In this year the land was sold to Carlo Visconti who in 1813 became duke of Modrone by Napoleon. He was last in his family and died in 1836. Although a far cousin was discovered who succeeded him and became the duke of Modrone and inherited all the lands along with Carlo Visconti’s widow. To this family the ownership remained until the year 1889 when it was old to Bartolomeo Pellegrini along with the surrounding land. He had been residing within the estate and working the lands from the year 1846. Following the death of Bartolomeo Pellegrini the estate was inherited by Giacomo Castagnari in 1892 who sold it to brothers Alessandro, Luigi and Sordello Pavesi in 1918, who had been tenants of the estate from 1891. In 1919 Sordello Pavesi was granted single ownership of the estate and in 1948 it was inherited by his son Andrea who died in 1983. After further passages of ownership, the estate passed to the Zanetti family who in 1999 sold the  court only (not the surrounding lands) to the Gazzani family who reside there today."

The passage is drawn from: GIULIO GIRONDI, Architettura e acqua. lungo il corso del Mincio da Bell'Acqua a Garolda. Mantova, 2005, Ed. Sometti