mgamburg

Any suggestions on seeing things - restaurants - Palladios -in this famous region just outside of Venice.
Thanks.
Michael

PalQ

ttt

ira

Hi mg,

What's a Palladio?

eliztrav

If you haven't already seen it, you might want to grab a copy of Sally Gable's new book, "Palladian Days: Finding a New Life in a Venetian Country House." She and her husband, Carl, bought the Palladian Villa Cornaro in Piombino Dese in the late 80s, and this is the one Bob Vila included in one of his shows on Palladian villas in the Veneto. Sally & Carl, an Atlanta couple, appeared as hosts in that show.

The book is more matter of fact in style than the Frances Mayes similar tale but told by a poet. And, the emphasis is on the important Villa, its restoration and its place in the "Palladian pantheon" of the Veneto area.

See Carl Gable's website: http://www.boglewood.com

eliztrav

Oops....meant to add that they mention restaurants and other sites in the Veneto as they also describe some jaunts around the area on the trail of Palladian/Cornaro info.

Eloise

For the most complete (and as far as I know, most accurate) information about Palladio's buildings, check out:

http://www.cisapalladio.org/veneto/i...4&lingua=e

The easiest way to get around to see them is, of course, by car.

The Villa Rotonda can be reached with a bus that leaves from in front of the Vicenza train station; if you go, walk a few hundred feet to the Villa Valmarana ai Nani (not by Palladio) for the frescoes in the guest house ("foresteria," I think) by Giandomenico Tiepolo, son of the more famous Gianbattista.

The downtown palaces, the Palazzo della Ragione, the Teatro Olimpico, etc. are clustered pretty tightly in downtown Vicenza, but it's about a 20 minute walk to downtown from the train station.

I have another book to suggest about the Palladian villas: Witold Rybzcynski's "The Perfect House." He's a professor of architecture, but the book is more of a personal appreciation than a scholarly study. It has been criticized for its relative lack of photographs; I borrowed a book of photographs from the library to accompany it.

Doble_Vergasser

I found a good guide book. In addition to photos of buildings (b&w) it has maps, one of Vicenza itself, and one of the larger Veneto area. (These maps show the location of all the buildings listed in the book). I will post back with title and author (I'm at work).

There are quite a few restaurants adjacent to the Palladio's market in Vicenza. There is a trattoria two blocks away that was recommended to us but closed for vacation when we got there.

We did not get to Padua.

aeiger

Hi
If you get to Vicennes and enjoy pizza, try the Antika Pizzeria. It's an old time pizzeria with a brick oven and a few tables. It's attched to the Antika Risorante. When we went back to the restaurant it was closed for the day. If you go to Vicennes, don't miss the Old Theatre. It is the city of Palladio. We enjoyed our stay there.

Doble_Vergasser

Guide book 'The Palladio Guide' Caroline Constant, 1993. It list 58 Palladian bildings and has the maps that I mentioned. One caution - the visiting times mentioned are out of date.

And now for something totally different, Palladio's Villa Saraceno (South of Vicenza, Hwy 247) can be rented from the National Trust (in the U.K.) however it's possible that it has not been restored.

Eloise

The Villa Saraceno has been restored and, according to Rybczinski (I always spell his name wrong...), is a lovely place to spend a week.

And it's not the National Trust, it's the Landmark Trust:

http://www.landmarktrust.org.uk/otherOptions/italy.htm

winesaavy7

What about the wine? wineries?

Eloise

Wine and wineries: That, as they say, is "a whole other kettle of fish." The Veneto is not noted for great wines. The area arund Verona is, I think, where Soave is produced. Soave is a nice quaffable wine, the sort of thing you might want to drink with a light supper on a hot summer evening, but a great wine it is most definitely not!

Jocelyn_P

"The Veneto is not noted for great wines..."

Amarone's not a great wine?

Eloise

True, true. My mistake...

Eloise

But not compared to the reds of Piedmont or even to Tuscany's Brunello di Montalcino and Vino nobile di Montepulciano...

janemc

mgamburg, I'm looking for restaurants in Vicenza. My guide book recommends Trattoria Tre Visi near Piazza Castello. Check out the website www.trevisi.vicenza.com. Click on menu and you will see the English description in parenthesis. One house specialty is home-made pasta with duck ragout.

Jocelyn_P

This is part of somewhat dated post from a Vicenza expert here on fodors (baldrick, you still here?):

"Author: baldrick
Date: 12/03/2003, 05:03 am
Main specialty of Vicenza : Baccalà alla vicentina con la polenta.
This dish is an institution, with 'congregations' defending the true recipe against vile and pale imitations. One of them is the "Venerabile Confraternita Vicentina del Baccalà alla Vicentina". You'll see very easily to which 'fraternity' a restaurant belongs.
Other typical dishes: bigoli all'anatra (special kind of pasta with duck sauce), fettuccine con i finferli (pasta and kind of mushrooms, finferli or galletti, don't know in English, is not my mother tongue). Also some influence by the Tiroler specialties, with their salumi and cheeses.

Some restaurants? There are a lot more than those mentionned and it's been 4 yrs since I have been for the last time in Vicenza, but still, they are all traditional restaurants of regional cuisine.
- Al Pestello, Contrà Santo Stefano, 3, close to the Duomo,
- Ponte delle Bele, Contrà Ponte delle Bele 5,
- Antica Casa della Malvasia, Contrà delle Morette 5, normally only locals here,
- Osteria Vineria Antico Guelfo, Contrà Pedemuro - San Biagio, 92
- Osteria Piccolo Piemonte, viale Verona,
Trattoria Veneta Al Cervo, Via Zambeccari, 36, close to the Centro Storico
- Nuovo Cinzia e Valerio, piazzetta Porta Padova 65/67, close to the city walls, elegant restaurant, also fish and shellfish."

I had the baccala with polenta at the first restaurant on the list, Al Pestello, and it was one of our dining highlights! The waiter was so helpful despite (or because of?) the fact that there are very few tourists in Vicenza. We absolutely fell in love with Vicenza and still fantasize about moving there. What a glorious place.

korr

hi
I LIVE BETWEEN VICENZA AND PADOVA IN ITALIA AND ALL HERE THE ATMOSFER IS OF PALLADIO ARCH.
IF YOU WANT SEE THIS SITE www.alzocco.it
this is a restaurant very old. here palladio, galileo galilei
eat togher. goethe was here. napoleon army stoped. many historicaly person passed here before to went to venice
very easy to find just outside of A4 Grisignano
bye bye korr

Ackislander

We will be staying with friends at the Villa Saraceno the third week in September. You can be sure I will write a trip report on the experience. This is the dream of a lifetime for our architecture-mad host, and he and his wife are sharing it with other architecture-mad friends. Palladian-Villas-R-US.

I just noticed that this is a very old post. Oh, well. I was
amused by Eloise's note that Witold Rybczynski's wonderful book has few/poor photographs. I heard him lecture just about the time this post originally appeared, and his slides were appallingly bad, though the lecture was brilliant. It was like looking at the slides your history of art professor took as a graduate student.

tarquin

Ackislander, we stayed at the Villa Saraceno last May, like you, with an architecture-mad host. It is utterly wonderful, every room has charms and the even the bathrooms are beautifully done in a rational non-luxe manner.

Will you all have cars? My husband and I drove along the villa-laden Brenta Canal twice, and you must see the Villa Poiana very close to Noventa Vicentina, your nearest town. I loved Este, a little further away but a beautiful little town.

Do not bother with the Castle, a sort of "big deal" restaurant close to the villa. The food was interesting in a seafood way, but somehow our group ate little and it was very expensive. There are several trattorie in Este - I don't know about Noventa as the streets were being dug up while we were there and no one wanted to venture in except to the big supermarket just outside town (on the road in from the villa.)

As you can tell, we enjoyed ourselves so much we returned to Venice six weeks later, and are going again to Venice and Vicenza this September.

Do ask if you have any questions, I could discuss this topic for ages.