The Savorgnan

The living conditions of the few inhabitants of Zuino, between marshes and malaria, were extremely difficult and the small village was gradually abandoned.

When, at the end of the 17th century, the owner Antonio Savorgnan decided to undertake the first fundamental reclamation works, the villa of Zuino was reduced to a single old tower

completely inhabited, and uncovered, located in an impassable marsh between the woods, which surrounded it; there was only one habitation all of straw, which supported a few arable fields in a short distance from it; what was called Fornelli was nothing more than a simple grouping of only six huts all of straw with a simple wall habitation, which still exists, and in some distance there was an ancient small mill, to which the few habitations mentioned converged.

A new village was built on the reclaimed land, which was called Torre di Zuino in reference to the only remains of the ancient villa. In 1714, the tower was incorporated into a luxurious palace and in 1727 the church was built that still exists today and is dedicated to Santa Maria Assunta. Inside, a plaque commemorates the commitment of Antonio Savorgnan “for having contained the force of the sea, transformed the marshes into fields, eliminated the unhealthy air and called people from all over to live here”.

The Torre di Zuino estate, which also includes Presedo and Fornelli, remained in the hands of the Savorgnan for almost 500 years, until 1818, when it was sold to the Venetian company Rossi e Carminati, which in turn resold it, in 1882, to Count Augusto Corinaldi of Padua.