Travels in Veneto

Veneto – a small region in the north-east of Italy, a true Elysium in the dynamic centre of industry and trade. The perfect marriage of architecture and picturesque landscape. Veneto is not only the famous Venice with its canals and gondolas, but also the number of charming towns and unique treasure of monuments.

Driving north on a highway through Austria, we cross the Alps and reach Venice in the simplest way. Than we turn west and through Padova, Vicenza and Verona, we will complete the loop. This is best direction for all wishing to visit Veneto.

Venice

Saint Mark’s Basilica is always occupied by crowd. But Saint Mark’s Square itself, historical and tourist centre, is a great attraction. And right beside the Plazzo Ducale – probably the most famous among palaces in Venice. Its interiors are a fantastic feast for tourists’ eyes, thanks to amazing Paolo Veronese paintings.

Venice is compact, so having the guidebook in our hands, we can easily reach every building. Narrow streets lead us in the proper direction. We should be aware not to get lost and not to keep coming back to the same place…
Most important churches in the city are of course worth seeing. It is great chance to experience something called today as “high culture”. On the walls we find paintings made by authors from famous Venice school. Even the streets’ nooks hide surprises. With the minimum of effort we find the court of Palazzo Contarini del Bovolo, and the amazing renaissance exterior staircase, bringing to mind the interior of a shell. And of course bridges – Rialto and Ponte dei Sospiri, which means Bridge of Sighs. All we need before we leave Venice are postcards with gondoliers.

Murano

Definitely the most beautiful glass in the world. To admire it, it’s enough to walk along shop windows, glittering with all possible colors.

It is worth taking a boat on Burano to take a look at beautiful places and colorful houses, just like from a fairytale. It is believed that sailors’ wives painted the facades while waiting for their husbands, to help them on the way back home.

We leave the lagoon and go deep into the land.

We see the Veneto Valley, green and waving, punctuated with cypresses, named by someone as “exclamation marks of a space”. Fertile soil made of river mud helps the plants to grow high. Driving west from Venice we pass on the north side Mestre industrial centre. But our minds and eyes turn to Padova.

Padova

It is big student city. The majority of buildings, including those belonging to the University, are well kept monuments. Saint Anthony is buried in Padova – his basilica and sanctuary is probably the most splendid in the city. Its shape, with slender towers and domes, brings to mind the influence of Byzantium.

On the courts of the monastery adjacent to the basilica you will see two huge magnolias, among the biggest known in the world.
After leaving the basilica it is worth to put your attention to the monument of Gattamelata, the first contemporary horse sculpture by Donatello.

You still have to see the Scrovegnich chapel. This intriguing building hides inside a huge group of frescos from the beginning of XIV century. They cover all walls and vaulting! They were painted by Giotto – the most distinct painter of his times, famous for his series about Saint Francis of Assisi. Giotto had great influence on European art, being at the frontier between the middle-ages and contemporary epochs.

After such delights for our minds and souls, it is time to feed the body. You won’t find in Padova anything better than ice cream on the Piazza delle Erbe.

Further into Veneto 

From Padova to Venice you can come back via river Brenta and admire the amazing villas on both sides. But we travel in the opposite direction. The land is more pleated, villages in the valleys attract with their high church towers, and on the tops of the hills we pass castles from the middle ages.

Among these hills are the building of great Andrea Pallado, whose most famous masterpiece – Villa Rotondo – stands near by Vicenza. Villa Capra, named after its founder, is a beautiful building  covered with a cupola, it has four portico and is supported by columns. A number of Villa Capra copies are situated almost all around the World, including the White House in Washington.

There is one more villa to see. We cannot neglect it, moreover because it stands on the same hill. The arrow on the way points in the direction uphill, we walk in a tunnel made of green plants and finally we reach it – one of the most picturesque places in Veneto. Villa Valmarana, compact and elegant, contains the great paintings of Giovanni Battista Tiepolo. Mythological creatures blend with decorative plants, everything is full of color and light. From the interior of the building we can admire the magnificent view of a garden landscaped into a slope. Also from here we can see a baroque basilica on Monte Bello, with a typical for Italian architecture campanile. This basilica belongs to Vicenza.

Vicenza 

We enter the city of Vicenza from the opposite side than tourists usually do. We are heading right to the centre. We cannot wait for the beautiful walk along streets full of perfect renaissance buildings and full of green lands. The fronts of the streets are composed of gothic facades of palaces and houses, decorated with renaissance galleries and Arcadian window frames. All in all, it gives a very harmonious effect. The urban scale does not crush humans. This is how the humanism was born in architecture!
We take a walk around the centrally situated Basilica Palladiana, the first masterpiece that the city of Vicenza ordered from Pallado. After this experience, we follow narrow streets west. They bring us to relicts of medieval walls and moat. Behind them is situated one of the most charming parks in the city.

Verona

We keep moving! Every heart will beat stronger while admiring the panorama of the city from one of Verona’s bridges on the Adige. The river goes round the old town like a moat. From this spot we have beautiful view of beautiful buildings with lines of cypresses between them.

Regular streets in Verona bring us back to the Roman past of the city. We can say the same about the famous amphitheatre. This ancient arena is the third biggest one in Italy. Today the opera rules there.

Verona is a royalty of medieval courts. The most famous one is of course at Casa di Giuletta, with the balcony from which Julia sighed to her lover. The main meeting point in Verona is Piazza Erbe – a long square with four statues, including the Venice lion.

Veneto always, at every step, reminds us about its identity. No matter that the Republic of Venice does not exist; Saint Mark’s lion accompanies us all along the way.

We did not drop into many charming towns, we did not see the deep blue waters of Lago di Garda, we did not admire the mountain landscapes in Dolomites – it is just the matter of time we have… 

Iwona Miszczyk, Poland

Translated by Dorota Cierpka