Visiting the Veneto: Cittadella, Castelfranco and Bassano del Grappa

This part of the Veneto is special to me, because it was in Bassano del Grappa (or more accurately, at the Albergo dalla Mena in Romano d'Ezzelino) that I spent my first days in Italy, in 1994. But let's go back a few years before that:

Like Montagnana, Cittadella (which, as can be inferred, means "citadel") was an outpost constructed by Padova in 1220, when it was a city state, prior to being assimilated in the Venetian Republic in 1405. Like Montagnana, it then declined in importance, and its walls stayed intact. In towns that were busy, growing places, things like city walls, rendered more or less obsolete by the invention of the canon, were often torn down and used as building materials. As in some of the other smaller towns discussed previously, Cittadella is not someplace to spend hours on hours, but is a nice stop to discover something that isn't on most tourists' lists.

Nearby lies Castelfranco. Originally built as a fortress to demarcate Treviso's territory in 1195, it was the reason Padova felt they needed their own bastion, and created Cittadella. You can see their relative positions on a map (zoom out if you have a small monitor) - Cittadella is the circle on the left, Castelfranco the square on the right. Once again, not a big town, but worth a look. Giorgione, one of the more important artists in the Italian Renaissance, was born in Castelfranco, and left for Venice, where he made a name for himself. The Cathedral has some of his work. As a side note for "tifosi" of cycling like me, the current (2008) world champion, Alessandro Ballan, is from Castelfranco Veneto!

If you have a car, the small hilltop town of Asolo is a nice place to relax in the afternoon. Despite being a very small town, its advantageous (and beautiful) location means that it was inhabited since prehistoric times, and had its share of history, as the Wikipedia page describing it narrates:

The town was originally a settlement of the Veneti, and was mentioned as Acelum in the works of Pliny.

In the early Middle Ages it was under the jurisdiction of the Bishops of Treviso and a possession of the Ezzelino family.

Later Asolo was the capital, and seat of the court, of the fiefdom of Asolo, which was granted by the Republic of Venice (to which it belonged) to Caterina Cornaro, the former Queen of Cyprus; in 1489 it was granted to her for life, but in 1509 when the League of Cambrai conquered and ransacked Asolo, Caterina fled to exile and died in Venice a year later. Under her reign, the painter Gentile Bellini and the humanist Cardinal Pietro Bembo were part of the court. Caterina's personal theatre was later purchased by Ringling (of Ringling Circus fame), crated up and shipped to Sarasota, Florida, where it was reassembled. The Asolo Theatre remains there today, where it enjoys a renaissance of theatre performances.

The rolling hills near Asolo are a great place to spend a bit of time if you are tired of busy cities, and has been for some time: the English poet Robert Browning moved there. One other thing to see in the area is the Villa Barbaro, another one of Palladio's masterpieces.

As an aside: perhaps it is not so interesting for most tourists, but I've always wondered at how productive, and how specifically productive the area around Bassano del Grappa is. High-quality Asolo hiking boots and shoes are made near the town, as are a number of other brands of cycling and motorcycling footwear. Two of the best bicycle saddle manufacturers are in the area, as are numerous bike clothing manufacturers. What with campagnolo bicycle components, which are made in nearby Vicenza, you could very nearly put together an entire bicycle and set of bike clothes made entirely within the Veneto.

Bassano del Grappa is the final stop on our tour of the northern Veneto plains, and as I mentioned above, holds lots of good memories, as it was the first place I stayed in Italy. It's not a big town, but it's much more substantial than Cittadella and Castelfranco, and given its important location near the base of the mountains, where the Brenta river leaves the Valsugana for the plains, has been inhabited on and off since prehistoric times. It's easy to spend an afternoon visiting most of the historic center, including the famous bridge over the Brenta. A strategic crossing point, the bridge has been destroyed and rebuilt numerous times - most recently after the second world war, when it was destroyed by the retreating German troops (there are still some bullet marks visible on nearby walls). Indeed, Bassano was also a focal point during World War I, when the nearby Monte Grappa (from which the town takes its name) was the last line of defense between the Imperial Austro-Hungarian army, and the wide open plains of the Veneto. Clearly, it had to be defended at any cost, and was. Thousands of soldiers lie buried in a monument at the top of the mountain.

These days, the mountains to the north of Bassano are an altogether more pleasant place, and will be covered in a future article on visiting the Veneto. Bassano itself is a great "base camp" if you're a cyclist like myself: you can do anything from leisurely cruises on the plains to the south, hilly rides east and west, or serious climbing expeditions in the mountains to the north. The climb up Monte Grappa is more than 20 kilometers uphill!

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Visiting the Veneto: Monselice, Este and Montagnana

Having covered Venice and Verona, the two biggest tourist draws in the Veneto, and the larger towns that are centers of business, industry, and home to a decent portion of people in the Veneto, it's time to move on to some of my favorite places: the smaller towns that aren't the target of so many tourists.

Monselice

Like many of the towns near the Colli Euganei, Monselice has been inhabited in some form since prehistoric times. The reason is obvious: the hill that it lies below is a formidable defense against invaders.

During the middle ages, Monselice briefly surpassed Padova as the most important town in the area, as Padova suffered a great deal from the collapse of the Roman empire.

Unfortunately, it's not possible to visit the ruins of the castle at the top of the hill very often, but it's occasionally open. In any case, the walk up to the "sette chiese" (seven churches) is worthwhile, and at the top provides beautiful views of the surrounding plains on a nice day. If you're lucky, you may even find that the stars have aligned and that the trail to the top of the hill and its castle is open. The Castello Cini is a well-preserved castle a bit further down the hill, which is interesting not only for the architecture, but also because of the collection of medieval weapons and other artifacts. Between the Colli Euganei in the distance, the Rocca hill, and various bits and pieces of architecture that have been well preserved, a walk around Monselice is pleasant, and picturesque. I also like it because it's a "real" town with "real" businesses that cater to the locals and people from the surrounding area. This makes it busy on weekdays, but authentic - you don't have to fight crowds of tourists.

Perhaps that's changing, as the town starts to realize that it could do more with what they have in terms of tourism. There is now a "Palio" (no horse racing though) in September with lots of food, wine, and medieval crafts and pageantry.

Near Monselice (on the other side of Monte Ricco) is the small hill town of Arqua` Petrarca, which as its name suggests, is famous for being the final resting place of the poet Petrarch. Arqua is small - there isn't a great deal to see - but it's a nice place to spend a few hours in the afternoon before eating at one of the many trattorie.

Este

Este, like Monselice, has been inhabited since time immemorial. Its extensive history is readily available to visitors in the museum, which covers everything from the bronze age up through Roman times and beyond, in great detail in some cases. The large collection is pretty amazing for what isn't a very large town, and attests to the fact that it was more important in the past, especially when the Adige river went by the town, rather than its modern course, which is several kilometers to the south. Those familiar with European history will also recognize in "Este" the name of a very old and important noble family in Europe. Este also has a castle, with a grounds that has been turned into a park: a great place to take a stroll with a gelato from the gelateria across the street from the castle! Byron and Shelley spent a year in Villa Kunkler, a villa behind the castle. If you have a car (Este is not on major train lines), Este might be a nice place to stay yourself if you want to explore the area in an unhurried way.

Unbeknown to most tourists, there's a tiny town on top of the hill above Este, called Calaone. There isn't much there, but on a hot summer day, it might be a way to catch a breeze at the top of the hill, and enjoy the view.

Being off the main lines of transportation, Este is, like Monselice, more of a "by the locals, for the locals" sort of place. It gets a few tourists coming through, but not the hordes you must do battle with to navigate around the main attractions of a place like Venice.

Montagnana

The last outpost of the province of Padova, Montagnana was build for precisely that reason: it was fortified and strengthened when Padova was a city state, in order to act as a bastion against the Scaligeri of Verona. To me, it's impressive that in 2008, the borders of the Padova and Verona provinces still reflect this ancient rivalry: Montagnana apparently performed its fortress duties well. When Venice conquered the whole region, the town ceased to be useful in that function, and has since meandered through history as one of the larger small towns in the rural heart of the Po' river valley east of Mantova (Mantua). Luckily, its relative stasis also led to the preservation of the medieval city walls, which have since been restored to their full glory. Montagnana is worth an afternoon, but for my tastes is a bit too far away from the Colli Euganei, so if you're going to stay in the area, I would opt for Este or Monselice, which are also easier to get to, and have more things to see in the immediate area. Near Montagnana is one of Palladio's villas, Villa Pisani

Within the Veneto, Montagnana is also famous for its prosciutto - be sure to have some if you go there. The best time to have some might be during the "Festa del Prosciutto", a big (busy) event that draws a lot of visitors from the surrounding area. The event usually takes place in mid-May, which is, with September, one of the best months for visiting Italy. It's not too hot yet, the fields of poppies are in full bloom (and they are beautiful), and everything is green.[...]

Visiting the Veneto: The Real Italy - Padova, Treviso and Vicenza

While tourists flock to Venice because of its uniqueness, unfortunately, the locals have been headed out of the city for years, mostly to the town of Mestre, on terra firma on the other side of the bridge.

Indeed, even though Venice maintains its place as the administrative capital of the Veneto, the real business of the Veneto takes place elsewhere. Three cities come to mind as centers of industry and business: Padova, Treviso and Vicenza. They are fairly large towns, each with a province to its name, and Padova and Treviso were relatively important city states before falling under the domain of the Venetian Republic, in 1405 and 1339, respectively.

It should be noted that Verona is also a fairly important center of business, manufacturing, and education, but it's also a very popular tourist destination, for good reason. The three cities this article covers lean in the other direction: they are also visited by tourists, but are more important for their importance in modern-day, everyday Italy. So, while there are things to do and see, and plenty of history and beautiful sites (like everywhere in Italy), these aren't the most beautiful towns in Italy, especially in the suburbs where more modern developments have gone in.

Padova

Being my "home away from home" in Italy, Padova is the Italian city I know best. What to see there? The main tourist attraction is the Basilica di Sant'Antonio - Saint Anthony's cathedral, known in Padova simply as "il Santo". It is visited by thousands of tourists a year, especially the faithful who come to ask favors of the holy dead guy. The "cured" often send in various things to commemorate the saint's role in their healing. Looking at things from a more scientific point of view, it's hard to statistically examine how effective the healing powers are, as there is not a representative sample of letters or much of anything from those who weren't healed... "thanks for nothing, you bag of bones!". In reality, rather than a bag of bones, the saint is most famously represented by his preserved tongue, vocal cords and other bits and pieces of his face that are on display in the church. Kind of gruesome, but worth a look. Despite being the biggest church in Padova, il Santo is not the duomo, or cathedral, of Padova, which lies in another portion of town. The duomo is worth a look too, especially the baptistry, where my wife and I were married, as it has some nice frescos on the walls, although I didn't really notice them during the wedding. I was too nervous and concentrated on the goings on.

Near il Santo lies the "Prato della Valle", a large expanse of grass surrounded by a canal in the middle of an even larger piazza; supposedly one of the largest in Europe. It's a nice place to go and relax with an ice cream on a sunny day, or a sandwich if you don't feel like sitting down to lunch at a restaurant.

My favorite touristy attractions in Padova are the main university building, "Il Bo`", and the Palazzo della Ragione (literally, "the palace of reason"). The University is one of the oldest in the world, having been founded by students and teachers who left the University of Bologna, reputedly the world's oldest, because of their dissatisfaction with the Vatican's control over Bologna and thus the University. Under the Republic of Venice, the university in Padova was granted a great deal of freedom, and in that time period, was one of the most prestigious universities of the world. It is claimed that Galileo Galilei spent some of the happiest years of his life there, because of the freedom he had to pursue his studies. If you take the tour of the university, one of the things they show you is a lectern made by Galileo's students for his use. After touring Italy, one expects to see beautifully handcrafted woodwork, dutifully preserved. However, the lectern is actually constructed in a very ramshackle, amateur way, and while his students may have been enthusiastic, the were clearly incompetent woodworkers. Naturally: they were the sons of noblemen who were not expected to work with their hands; their insistence on personally constructing the piece of work, rather than paying for it on commission is a touching demonstration of their loyalty to their teacher, and a reminder that not everything in that day and age was "beautifully handcrafted".

The "palace of reason" was the seat of government in Padova in the middle ages, and for the time, was an impressively large open space dedicated to something other than religious matters. It has a number of frescoes in the interior, and a wooden horse statue attributed to Donatello.

The civic museum of Padova is also worth a visit: it contains bits and pieces of Padova's history dating back some 3000+ years, including a number of pieces from Roman "Patavium", the city's name in that era.

A trip to the Cappella degli Scrovegni is also on the 'recommended' list. It's beautiful, and impressive, but sort of a pain in the neck, as you have to make reservations, and you get herded through the thing fairly quickly.

Once you've spent a busy day running around seeing the sites though, it's time for my favorite thing in Padova: a spritz in the piazza, which merits its own article. One of the nice things is that in the piazza, you're partaking of something traditional, amidst a crowd of mostly locals, something that's quite difficult in a city like Florence, which sometimes feels like it has more foreigners than locals.

Unfortunately, I can't really recommend a restaurant in Padova, we never really found a 'favorite place' that we could unconditionally send people to, although the Pizzeria Savonarola (in Via Savonarola) is pretty good, if a bit crowded.

Treviso & Vicenza

Treviso and Vicenza are similar to Padova: they are wealthy, industrious cities that aren't quite so high up on the very long list of things to do in Italy, what with Venice, Verona, and so much else nearby. To be honest, I don't know either one nearly as well as I do Padova, but they both have enough attractions to make a day spent there pleasant.

Vicenza has a lot of nice hills nearby, the Colli Berici to the south, and others to the north, which are all full of restaurants and places to go walking. I've always preferred the Colli Berici to the Colli Euganei near Padova, as they are slightly larger in area, and have a "wilder" feel to them in places (although of course, being in Italy, you're never far from a house or small village). Vicenza is well known for being the home of numerous works of the architect Palladio (who was, however, born in Padova!), although you can find them scattered all over the Veneto. An interesting detail about Vicenza's history is related to Casa Pigafetta, which is where Antonio Pigafetta was born, one of only 18 of Magellan's original crew to actually complete the circumnavigation of the world and one of two to write down his experiences. Magellan himself died en route after a battle with natives. If you've been in Italy a while and really crave some american food, Vicenza is a good bet: with the US Army base there, there are some restaurants nearby that cater to that crowd, including a few decent Mexican ones (quite rare for Italy).. Also, on the 4th of July, the base opens up and they throw a big party with grilled burgers and hot dogs, which is fun, although it's a bit of a culture shock to go from "life in Italy" to "US Army" so abruptly.

Treviso is close to Venice, and like Padova, a good place to sleep in a cheaper hotel than is available in Venice, and visit Venice during the day. In my opinion, like Vicenza, Treviso suffers a bit from the lack of a university, something that really sets Padova a part from the other two in terms of giving it a more open, international character. Treviso is economically important: a great deal of businesses call it home, including the world famous Benetton group, and if you're a cycling fan like me, Pinarello. If you're in Treviso near the end of October and like wine, the "Ombralonga" is reputedly quite fun, although I've never been. The name means "long shadow", and refers to a glass of red wine, called an "ombra" in the Veneto. An entry fee gets you a wine glass hung around your neck, that you can take to various stands and get wine.[...]