The Veneto and Friuli-Venezia Giulia: Places to Explore

This sleepy little town was, in the time of Emperor Augustus, Italy's fourth most important city (after Rome, Milan, and Capua). It was the principal northern Adriatic port of Italy and the beginning of... Read more

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... Read more

Nestled at the base of the Mt. Grappa massif (5,880 feet), with the mountain-fresh Brenta River sluicing through, this town seems to be higher in the mountains than it actually is. Bassano has old streets... Read more

Cividale is the best place to see the art of the Lombards, a Germanic people who entered Italy in 568 and ruled until the late 8th century. The city was founded in AD 53 by Julius Caesar, then commander... Read more

Exploring From the 14th-century Castello Inferiore, where the town council still meets, an ancient stone wall snakes up the hill to enclose the Castello Superiore, with its commanding views. Marostica's... Read more

A romantic warren of arcaded streets, Padua has long been one of the major cultural centers of northern Italy. It's home to Italy's second-oldest university, founded in 1222, which attracted such cultural... Read more

Treviso has been dubbed "Little Venice" because of its meandering, moss-banked canals. They can't really compare with Venice's spectacular waterways, but on the whole, Treviso's historic center, with its... Read more

Trieste is built along a fringe of coastline where a rugged karst plateau tumbles abruptly into the beautiful Adriatic. It was, up until the end of World War I, the only port of the Austro-Hungarian Empire... Read more

Udine, the largest city on the Friuli side of the region, has a provincial, genteel atmosphere and lots of charm. The city sometimes seems completely unaffected by tourism, and things are still done the... Read more

On the banks of the fast-flowing River Adige, enchanting Verona has timeless monuments, a picturesque town center, and a romantic reputation as the setting (in fiction only) of Shakespeare's Romeo and... Read more

Vicenza bears the distinctive signature of the 16th-century architect Andrea Palladio, whose name has been given to the "Palladian" style of architecture. He effectively emphasized the principles of order... Read more