Romantic House Cantoniera of a disused railway line immersed in the greenery

Historic House Cantoniera of the dismal Treviso-Ostiglia railway line.

The Treviso-Ostiglia railway line.

The construction of this line was designed, for strategic purposes, by the Italian Army at the beginning of the last century, so that troops could quickly be deployed in the event of a war against Austria-Hungary. The construction work was suspended from the outbreak of the First World War and then began in the 1920s, ending only at the beginning of the 1940s, in the imminence of the Second World War.

In its full extension, the railway line had little life, since it was heavily bombarded by the Allies in 1944. In the short term of its existence it worked both as a military infrastructure for the carriage of goods and as a means of transporting people.

In September 1946, shortly after the end of World War II, the Allied army reactivated some lines but the line was definitively closed for exercise in 1965.

In the 2000s, the project of turning the railway line into the cycling track called the Treviso-Ostiglia cycle track was activated. This project has led to the creation of a cyclopedonal track linking the province of Treviso with the province of Padua at the moment, reaching the borders with the province of Vicenza.

The History of the Cantoniera House no. 57+ 257

The bond of my family with this cantoniera house began in 1949 when Grandpa Mario, a railroad, was transferred from Venice to Villaganzerla, a small village in the Vicenza countryside. From that moment on, Grandma Amelia and my mother, Nina, who was only seven years old, became her guardians.

The postwar period.

The war had just come to an end and the railway line, heavily affected by bombing, was returning to work. Everywhere it was adjusted for what had been damaged and there was also the desire to build something new.

In this atmosphere of renewal, the grandparents were also preparing to write a new chapter of their life that would be enriched by the new stories that began to sneak in their eyes.

New friends came knocking on the solid and reassuring doors of the Cantoniera House, new trains passed over those rails, so many lives went down and left from the stop in the small Villaganzerla.

Mom dad

Little by little grandparents and mum fell in love with that little village at the foot of the Berici Hills and when the Treviso-Ostiglia line was abandoned at the end of the 1960s, they decided to continue living in the cantoniera house on which it would have been imprinted forever the spirit of travelers.

At Villaganzerla, Mother met our father Joseph. After a few years of engagement, they decided to marry and go to live in the second apartment of which the house was home to which my mother was heavily tied. There we and my sister grew up there, listening to the story stories of grandparents telling us, learning through their tales the many characters that have passed and who sometimes stayed there, asking for shelter for one night.

The purchase of the Cantoniera House.

In the 80's, my grandfather bought the entire cantoniera house and the attached land where our parents later built the house where we and Roberta grew up.

For us sisters the tracks, later removed from the State Railways, were the protagonists of our childhood games. How many equilibrium races, how many springs have been announced by the blossoming of blue and white violets along the sleighs, how serene the scent of wood of the joints, how many nights with friends sitting on the rails with the nose up to count the stars.

After failing grandparents, mom and dad decided to renovate the cantoniera house, completely modifying the interior, adding a new wing but keeping the external façade unaltered, to remember its origins. The end result was two spacious and bright dwellings of 100 sqm each, one on the ground floor and the other on the first floor.

Nina Guest House

In 2013 my sister and I decided to turn Casa Cantoniera into the Holiday House by choosing the name Nina Guest House in memory of our mother Nina, who disappeared in 2006.

As originally the Casa Cantoniera has returned to be the custodian of stories of many new travelers who choose their dwellings both to visit the beautiful cities of Venice and for work.

I am very fortunate to have the chance to know every day wonderful people coming from all over the world. From the stories of the inhabitant it seems that this house has a beautiful karma and that it brings good to all those who have chosen it.

I hope to meet you soon too that you are reading me!

Alessandra, proud guardian of the Casa Cantoniera dei Viaggiatori


Elegance Mansion

Bright and elegant residence on the first floor of the Cantoniera House, with two beautiful bedrooms, two balconies, bathroom, independent kitchen and large living room with flat screen satellite TV. Ideal for 1-4 Guests.