If you were moving to Vicenza to work, would there be any small towns within a 30 minute commute that should also be considered? Criteria would be good public transport to Vicenza and good place to walk for exercise in the evenings.

I know that they are expanding the military base there in Vicenza so the housing in the area is at a premium. Vicenza ia a lovely city but if you don't want topay top dollar, but still want to live in a larger city, there is always Verona and Padova. If you are looking for a small town, I would say look to San Bonifacio (along the A4) or Paizzola Sul Brenta (northe of Padova) or Cittadella with its wonderful medieval walls or if you like hockey, Trissino has a fabulous hockey team.

On reading your post again - if you are looking for public transport, I'm not sure if there are trains or busses running to Vicenza from Trissino or Piazzola Sul Brenta - but I'm sure the commune websites would have that info. I hope that helps.

Thanks. I'll check out the websites.

Search the forum for Aviano. There have been a few threads about it. And there's a US Web site about moving to Aviano:
http://www.aviano.af.mil/newcomers/index.asp