Hi, my husband is an architect and would like to stay a night in Vicenza and tour some villas designed by Palladio. Has anyone on fodor's done this, and are there any you would particularly recommend? Thanks!

We put this off for years somehow, always getting distracted by the charms of Venice. Finally last year we did one of those all day boat trips from Venice to Padua on the Brenta Canal with stops at 5 villas along the way. I was a bit surprised that a couple of them were closed to the public (at least on those days) but opened just for us.

Needless to say you must see Pisani, the grandest of them all, with spectacular grounds and the wonderful (and challenging) maze.

Villa Foscari was quite small but very interesting. It's also called Malcontenta.

Sadly we didn't see Emo, which is supposed to be the highlight as it is the only one that has never been altered -- considered to be the ideal Palladio villa.

Oh, perfect, Patrick. Thanks. Perhaps we should just stay in Venice another night and do a trip like yours. Do you remember what tour company you used?

Hi Suki,

You didn't say when you are going to be there. We travel in the fall and have stayed in Vicenza....we were able to see Villa Barbero in Maser, Villa Emo in Fanzolo, and the outside grounds of the Rotunda, right there in Vicenza. Across the street from Rotunda is the Villa Valmarana detta "dei Nani"..also lovely. The hours are a bit tricky when you are not in high season, but we were able to find them on the Internet. My favorite so far was Barbero, Foscari is next on my list.

Thanks, Traviata. We will be in that area around the 18th of June. My husband did mention that a lot of the villas are either closed to the public or have limited hours.

Hi Suki,

If you check on the internet, you will find the hours.....June should be a good time to find them open...I think you can do Barbero and Emo in one day..they are not far apart. They do close for long lunch hours!

Suki,

We were in the Veneto last May and toured a number of the Palladian villas. We did a day trip to Vicenza and saw La Rotonda and the basilica designed by Palladio, as well as Vila Vlamarana. We loved Vicenza and wished we had more time there.

We also did a half day tour where we toured both Villa Emo and Barbaro and visited the town of Asolo. It was a great tour, but unfortunately I don't have the name of the group, as it was arranged by the conference. Taviata, Villa Barbaro was my favorite as well.

If you plan yourself, this site lists the villas - the details of each show the opening times:
http://www.boglewood.com/palladio/home.html

my trip photos - start about page 9 to see Vicenza and the villas: http://travel.webshots.com/album/550...KIGnJq?start=0

Wow, nice photos, rumrita, and thanks for sharing your favorites.

Suki, I was just in Vicenza and Asolo Friday before last, and enjoyed both places very much. Vicenza is a lovely, very wealthy city. Beautiful piazzas, great walking city. To start with Palladio, you must see the Teatro Olimpico inside the city-that is an amazing theatre, the oldest surviving Renaissance theatre in the world, with beautiful grounds. What's interesting about this wooden theater is the sense of perspective that Palladio built into it-there are 5 hallways designed to look like long streets-he succeeds in achieving this artistic perspective to an amazing degree. I'm waiting for my pictures! Then we went to an old restaurant in Vicenza to have their specialty, "baccala alla Vicentino"-(it's pieces of cod with polenta, basically, and neither one of us liked it very much). In late afternoon, we then went off to see Palladio's other works-La Rotonda, and Villa Valmarana ai Nani-the latter which was really beautiful, the statutory, the grounds-however, we got there too late to do the inside, we just walked around a bit, which is a shame, because Villa Valmarana has gorgeous Tiepolo frescos inside. Very worthwhile trip.

I took the Brenta Canal tour with a company called Il Burchiello :

http://www.ilburchiello.it/site_eng/partenza.html

Yep, that's the company we used. Nicely run operation.

I did a one day tour of the Veneto area (from Venice) and loved it. I went on this tour: http://www.tours-italy.com/tours/Ven..._of_veneto.htm

http://www.luvtotravel.homestead.com/ItalyJrnl06.html Scroll down to May 23rd for my notes.

Monica

PS: I should add that I was traveling solo, it rented a car wasn't the best option for me. I'd like to return to that area of Italy and get to know the area on my own and with a car so that I'm not limited to the places to see.

Monica

Thanks again to everyone for the info.
Monica, your journal is great. You've made me want to visit Bassano al Grappo (sp?) There is so much to see and so little time!
Girlspy, I think I will avoid the regional specialty of salt cod, but we will definitely see the Teatro in the city.

I did the half day cruise on the Il Burchiello cruiseas Malcontenta was the only Palladian villa on the cruise and we saw it in the morning. After a nice lunch, the bus stopped right out front and took me back to Piazza Roma.

Hi Suki,

My original travel plans didn't include the Veneto hill towns; however after watching a show on the travel channel and seeing Bassano del grappa for the first time, I immediately emailed my hotel in Venice and added a day to my stay.

Monica

If you have time it might be fun to see the movie Ripley's Game before you go as it is filmed in the area and has a wonderful scene inside the Teatro Olympica at the end of the film. Ripley (played by John Malcovich) lives in a spectacular Palladian villa. After I saw the movie I decided I had to go to Vicenza and was sorry I didn't plan a longer stay. I would try and spend more than a day as there is a lot to see and it is a very charming and elegant place.