The site where Villa Selvatico da Porto stands, is characterized by the presence of the Tergola River and the canals that flow from it. The architectural complex is therefore surrounded by water on its entire perimeter.
Numerous traditions report that the villa was built on the ruins of an older medieval building (perhaps a fortified place), but there is no certainty about its first foundation.
However, we know that the nearby village of Sant’Andrea and the surrounding lands were part of the possessions of the famous and very rich noblewoman Speronella Dalesmanini, who lived in the second half of the 12th century, and then left as an inheritance to her wicked son Jacopo da Sant’Andrea. Jacopo is mentioned by Dante in his "Divine Comedy" in the XIII canto of the Inferno, among the spendthrifts and suicides for having squandered in a few years the enormous fortune inherited from his mother.
Jacopo's prodigality was still well known in Dante's time. His commentators relate numerous anecdotes related to his tendency to waste: for example, during a boat trip on the Brenta Jacopo amused himself by emptying a bag full of coins into the water; on another occasion, he had his own villa set on fire just because he wanted to see a big fire.
In the forest of suicides, Jacopo flees with Lano da Siena, pursued by black dogs. Out of breath, he seeks shelter in a bush, but is reached by the wild beasts and torn to pieces. The bush itself - which is actually a Florentine suicide - is seriously damaged and, in its lament, identifies the spendthrift:
O Jacopo," he said, "from Sant'Andrea,
what benefit has it done you to use me as a shield?
what fault have I of your wicked life?