Padua, Venice and art cities

Padua is an ancient city with 3,000 years of history, founded according to the legend by the hero Antenore, who escaped from the flames of Troy and cradle of science with the oldest botanical gardens in the world and a university founded in 1222. But also the city of a thousand frescoes, where Giotto in the Scrovegni Chapel left his masterpiece. Take time to meditate in the city sanctuary, the Basilica of Saint Anthony, the saint without a name who each year welcomes millions of pilgrims. Strolling through the busy squares and narrow medieval streets you can enjoy shopping in the small boutiques, which have been selling wine and typical products of the territory, or jewelry and antiques for over eight centuries. To then choose a delicious mint coffee, specialty of the literary Caffè Pedrocchi, or a spritz in Piazza delle Erbe, in the shade of the stately Palazzo della Ragione.

If you have a more romantic spirit, you must get lost in mysterious Venice, city of one hundred little islands connected by countless bridges. You will discover a magical and unchanged world, where wandering among the calle and callette (typical Venetian streets), savoring tasty cicchetti (appetizers) and sipping a glass of wine. Each corner of the city offers precious environments of rare beauty, to be discovered on foot or by boat. And after having wandered among the Mercerie, the area of old Venetian boutiques you will end up in the most famous square of all: Piazza San Marco, with the Oriental-style Basilica of St. Mark, the highest Bell tower in the city and the Doge’s Palace that is reflected on the lagoon water. An enchanting scene that makes your eyes sparkle!

Ancient Rome can be discovered in Verona, which houses the best-preserved Roman Arena in the world with 2,000 years of history, it acts as a spectacular stage for the renowned opera festival during warm summer evenings. But Verona is also the city of the Signoria dei Della Scala, a period of history full or conquest and assassins, who left a mark on the city, in the medieval squares and also in the stately Ponte Scaligero that dominates the Adige River. And how can you not follow the footsteps of the two lovers Romeo and Juliet, stars of the most famous and touching love story of all time?

Each city in our territory reveals its face and personality, such as Vicenza, the white and splendid city shaped by one of the greatest architects of all time: Andrea Palladio, who left here the majority of his masterpieces. Among them Palazzo Chiericati, that is reflected in the water of the city, and today houses the marvelous Civic Museum, but also the Basilica Palladiana, the ancient courthouse of the city, today home to international exhibits, or the Teatro Olimpico, the architect’s last work that represents the first permanent theater in the world.

Treviso, charming city crossed by waterways and canals, or the nearby Asolo, city of the Divine Duse and the Queen Caterina Cornaro, Marostica, with its famous living chess game, Bassano del Grappa, with the Ponte degli Alpini and its famous grappa and other liquor distilleries or Ferrara, with its Castello Estense and the Palazzo dei Diamanti…