Villa Selvatico da Porto was probably built between the 1400s and the 1500s. There is no certainty about the exact date of construction and who commissioned it.
The Frigimelicas were, from the Middle Ages onwards and for a long time, an important family of this area, with vast properties including the mill called Quattro Ca’ (now Casa Rossa not far from here), and holders of the patronage over the church of Codiverno. It is possible that they were the first builders and owners of the villa.
Almost certainly the villa was initially built as a country residence for the noble family, being enriched over time by new residential and agricultural parts, many of which have survived over time and some have instead been lost, as shown by some maps present in the State Archives in Padua in the Frigimelica - Selvatico Fund.
"The family that maintained its presence in the territory (of Roman Centuriation, ed.) for the longest time was the Frigimelica family. It was a Paduan family of good social extraction and solid wealth, but none of its members had ever shone as a valiant leader, nor as a subtle diplomat, nor as a skilled administrator. The leap in quality occurred thanks to a marriage: in 1317 Francesco, son of Bonifacio Frigimelica, married Donella, daughter of Iacopo the Great Da Carrara, who a year later would become the lord of Padua. .....
After Francesco's death, the assets were inherited by his two sons... Bonifacio was given a large piece of land - it seems like a single plot and that would be rare - of 209 fields, partly arable and partly meadow, a forest extending over 4 fields, 55 fields of woods and meadow, 20 fields of meadow and a mill with 2 fields of meadow. Giacomo was given 340 fields of meadow, swamps, woods and uncultivated land with a manor house and 23 plots on each of which stood a wooden and straw house with a pasture; it also had 115 fields of woods and meadows.
It is clear that this was a territory still largely occupied by woods and swamps, areas that were used daily for grazing, hunting and fishing ... There was a brick house in the center of a courtyard: it was the manor area, from which the work of the tenant farmers was controlled and where the crops were harvested. And there were poor houses for the farmers ....
In this estates the Frigimelicas soon modernized and expanded the old manor house and began to frequent it during the strong moments of the agricultural year. ....
The house (now Villa Frigimelica Selvatico da Porto) was always frequented by members of the family to direct the work on the vast landed property and keep an eye on the management of the Mulino delle Quattro Ca'; but it was also a beloved place of peaceful rest and meetings with friends. ......
The Frigimelica family managed to keep its assets intact in Oltrebrenta and to hand them over, upon its extinction, to the Selvatico family: for four centuries it had directed the work of the tenant farmers and millers, had ditches dug and roads maintained and banks raised, contributing to giving us an almost intact landscape.”
Cit. E. Martellozzo Forin, “The great owners: the Frigimelicas”, in “A carte scoperta – L’agro centuriato a nord est di Padova dall’età romana ad oggi” edited by Silvia Cipriano, 2019.