During the First World War, Villa Emo was the seat of the English command on the Italian front and a military field hospital. In the Second World War, upon strict orders of the Ministry of Education, which at the time was also in charge of the artistic assets, Villa Emo was one of the four Trevisan Villas not confiscated and used for military purposes. In the period between the two wars, guests at the villa included the Prince of Wales who would later become King Edward VIII, and the Princess of Piedmont, the future last queen of Italy, Maria Josè.
The last generations of the Emo family have done their best to keep Villa Emo at its best. In the 1900s they promoted, among other things, studies and research, using the collection of the family historical archive, and with other initiatives like the collection of farming tools by Countess Barbara Steven, which was later placed in a little museum in the farm of Villa Emo. In the 80s Villa Emo opened to the public for the first time as a museum and then ten years later some of its rooms were converted into a restaurant and a hotel, still family run. In 1996 Count Marco Emo Capodilista, the last owner, had the honour of seeing his noble family residence included by UNESCO among the world Heritage Sites, together with the other Palladian Villas, joining the site of Vicenza which had already been included in1994. The story of the Emo family and of the Villa by the same name ends in December 2004 when Banca di Credito Cooperativo buys the Villa and places its Head Office and the Service Centre in the old farm of Villa Emo.
In 2015 the Villa Emo's Foundation Onlus (a non-profit organization) which was created in 2005 to manage and protect the historical asset, celebrated 450 years from the wedding of Leonardo Emo, who initially inspired the project for this ancient residence, and Cornelia Grimani, with an exhibition by the Cultural Association 'Inspiration', on the fashion and culture of the sixteenth century. This was followed, on 12th June 2015, by an evening of historical re-enactment of the day of their wedding anniversary,. All this to celebrate and remember a noble family who managed to inspire, maintain and pass on one of the finest examples of the culture of a Venetian villa.