FESTA VENEZIANA A Ca' Toga

The Imaginative World of a Venetian Artist in Napa Valley

In the serene Northern California town of Calistoga, a splendid villa is fronted by a stately wrought-iron gates and a small sign reading "Carlo Marchiori, Maestro d'Arte." Ca' Toga, as the Palladian-style villa is named, is the home and workshop of Carlo Marchiori, a world-renowned Venice-born artist. In FESTA VENEZIANA A Ca' Toga, Marchiori serves as tour guide, leading us room by room through this live portfolio, providing deeply personal and mysterious explanations for the wonders that abound in his gallery-like residence. Sixteenth century-style frescoes hang in the main salon, hand-painted stone floors accent the library, and antler and bone sculptures embellish the Native American room. Roman ruins, Thai temples, a seashell-encrusted grotto, and an open-air theater sit in archaic splendor on this dreamscape-turned-landscape. A spontaneous and creative expression of his life and work, Ca' Toga is Marchiori's artistic utopia–a work in progress that is a brilliant spectacle to behold.

• Featuring a fantastic repertoire of ceiling murals, wall decorations, folding screens, painted furniture, ceramics, cast stone garden ornaments, and myriad objects d'art inspired by Greco-Pompeiian mythology, Baroque theater, Venetian carnival, and commedia dell'arte themes.
• Marchiori offers tours of Ca' Toga on Saturday mornings from May to October. Tour tickets and art can be purchased at the Ca' Toga Galleria D'Arte, located in Calistoga, California.