The Veneto

Europe’s largest producer of textiles and the focus of Italy’s “Silicon Valley”, VICENZA is a very sleek city, where it can seem that every second car is a BMW. Prosperity hasn’t ruined the look of the city though, and the centre, still partly enclosed by medieval walls, today looks much as it did at the close of the eighteenth century. In 1404 Vicenza was absorbed by Venice, and the city’s numerous Gothic palaces reflect its status as a Venetian satellite. But in the latter half of the sixteenth century the city was transformed by the work of an architect who owed nothing to Venice and was to influence every succeeding generation – Andrea di Pietro, alias Palladio. The historic core is compact enough to be explored in a day, but the city and its environs really require a short stay to do them justice.

With its wealth of Roman sites and streets of pink-hued medieval buildings, the easy-going city of VERONA has more in the way of sights than any other place in the Veneto except Venice itself. It is Shakespeare who brings most people here: the city was the setting for Romeo and Juliet, and many people come to see the scene of their great, but fictional, romance. It also hosts one of the major cultural events in the region, when the Roman Arena becomes a magical setting for an outdoor opera festival. Unlike Venice, though, Verona is not dependent on the tourist industry, and its economic success is largely due to its position at the crossing of the major routes from Germany and Austria to central Italy and from the west to Venice and Trieste. The spending power of its citizens contributes to a vivacious street-life – one of Verona’s most appealing assets.

Brief history

Verona’s initial development as a Roman settlement was similarly due to its straddling the main lines of communication. A period of decline after the disintegration of the Roman Empire was followed by revival under the Ostrogoths, who in turn were succeeded by the Franks. By the twelfth century Verona had become a city-state, and in the following century approached the zenith of its independent existence with the rise of the Scaligers. The ruthless Scaligers were at the same time energetic patrons of the arts, and many of Verona’s finest buildings date from their rule.

With the fall of their dynasty a time of upheaval ensued, Gian Galeazzo Visconti of Milan emerging in control of the city. Absorption into the Venetian Empire came in 1405, and Verona was governed from Venice until the arrival of Napoleon. Verona’s history thereafter shadowed that of Venice.

CASTELFRANCO VENETO once stood on the western edge of Treviso’s territory, and battlemented brick walls the Trevisans threw round the town in 1199 to protect it against the Paduans still encircle most of the old centre (or castello). Of all the walled towns of the Veneto, few bear comparison with Castelfranco, and the place would merit a visit on the strength of this alone. But Castelfranco was also the birthplace of Giorgione and possesses a painting that single-handedly vindicates Vasari’s judgement that Giorgione’s place in Venetian art is equivalent to Leonardo da Vinci’s in that of Florence.

When Treviso turned Castelfranco into a garrison, the Paduans promptly retaliated by reinforcing the defences of CITTADELLA, 15km to the west, on the train line to Vicenza. The fortified walls of Cittadella were built in the first quarter of the thirteenth century, and are even more impressive than those of its neighbour. You enter the town through one of four rugged brick gateways; if you’re coming from the train station it’ll be the Porta Padova, the most daunting of the four, flanked by the Torre di Malta. The tower was built as a prison and torture chamber by the monstrous Ezzelino da Romano, known to those he terrorized in this region in the mid-thirteenth century as “The Son of Satan”. His atrocities earned him a place in the seventh circle of Dante’s Inferno, where he’s condemned to boil eternally in a river of blood.

East of Bassano, the medieval hilltop town of ASOLO presides over a tightly grouped range of 27 gentle peaks in the foothills of the Dolomites. Known as la città dai cento orizzonti (“the city with a hundred horizons”), the town was popular with writers and artists who found the atmosphere convivial: Robert Browning’s last published work – Asolando – was written here.

BELLUNO was once a strategically important ally of Venice, and today is the capital of a province that extends mainly over the eastern Dolomites (covered in Chapter 5). Its position is Belluno’s main attraction, but the old centre calls for an hour or two’s exploration if you’re passing through. The hub of the modern town, and where you’ll find its most popular bars and cafés, is the wide Piazza dei Martiri.