Venetian-born artist Carlo Marchiori journeyed from Italy to America via Nova Scotia, Canada, more than 40 years ago. After attending art school at the Instituto Pietro Selvatico in Padua, Italy , Marchiori worked in commercial art, film animation, and editorial illustration before mastering the large-scale trompe l'oeil murals for which he is internationally renowned.

Inspired by the verdant beauty of Northern California's famed Napa Valley (and ever mindful of the region’s strong resemblance to the Venetian countryside of his youth), Marchiori began constructing his Palladian-style villa in the shadows of the St. Helena mountains in 1987. Marchiori lives and works at Villa Ca' Toga, which boasts a two-story workshop, and offers his art for sale at the Ca' Toga Galleria D' Arte in Calistoga, California.