Asolo

A pleasant place to stop for lunch on a visit to the Palladian villa of Maser, or to use as a base for touring the surrounding countryside, the visually striking hillside hamlet of Asolo was the consolation prize of an exiled queen. At the end of the 15th century, Venetian-born Caterina Cornaro was sent here by Venice's doge to keep her from interfering with Venetian administration of her former kingdom of Cyprus, which she had inherited from her husband. To soothe the pain of exile she established a lively and brilliant court in Asolo. It was in this court that the Renaissance poet-essayist Pietro Bembo set his famous "Gli asolani" (1505), in which six Venetian courtiers discuss the pros and cons of love. Through the centuries, Veneto aristocrats continued to build elegant villas on the hillside, and in the 19th-century Asolo once again became the idyllic haunt of musicians, poets, and painters. And it's no wonder why—this is one of Italy's most strikingly situated villages, with views across miles of hilly countryside. Here, you can stroll past villas once inhabited by Robert Browning and actress Eleonora Duse, the mistress of the poet Gabriele D'Annunzio. Be warned that the town's charm vaporizes on holiday weekends when the crowds pour in. Even on weekdays, the village, given over to tourism and vacation residences, has almost no local population. Asolo hosts a modest antiques market on the second Sunday of every month except July and August.