﻿Vicenza is another one of the great towns of Italy,
most famous for the architecture of native son, Andrea Palladio, who lived here 500 years ago.
But in today's program, we are focusing on the people and the streets of this beautiful city.
With a population just over 100,000, it has a small town feeling and a high quality of life.
It's a very easy place to visit on a daytrip because the old town center is quite small,
about one square kilometer, with many pedestrian lanes and beautiful historic sites.
It is not one of those touristic places. You'll see mostly locals out taking a stroll,
furnishing an authentic experience. The town is like an outdoor museum,
with a large collection of important historic buildings, beautifully preserved, such as this
old gateway through the medieval walls. Founded by the Romans over 2000 years ago, with continuous
occupation reaching its artistic peak in the works of Andrea Palladio, especially the Basilica on
the main Piazza Signori, surrounded by beautiful cafés. From above, we see Palladio’s Basilica with
four piazzas around it, and the main pedestrian street Corso Andrea Palladio, just a few blocks
away. If you're staying in Venice you can get to Vicenza in 50 minutes by train, an ideal daytrip.
Piazza dei Signori is the very center of the old town, so it's a good place to begin our visit with
views of the Palladian Basilica, one of Europe's most important buildings of the 16th century.
At one end of the piazza we've got twin monumental columns, with the lion of St. Mark on top of one,
and Christ the Redeemer on the other. Alongside the Basilica is the Torre Bissara,
82 meters high, one of the tallest buildings in town. We are going to take you on a walk through
some of the pedestrian lanes of town, but first it would be nice to drop anchor and have a spritz,
join the local crowd at the little Pizzetta Andrea Palladio, next to the Basilica. You
could easily miss it because it's the smallest of the four piazzas that surround the great building,
and yet it's one of the coziest and most charming with these arcades and loggia all around. Next to
it, also adjacent to the Basilica which you see towering above, on top of those steps, is Piazza
delle Erbe, serving up more spritz, that favorite local drink. The Tower of Torment was originally
a home for a noble family in the 13th century and then became a prison for torture. Although
Palladio called his building a Basilica, based on ancient Roman structures, it was not a church.
It was used for civic functions like meetings, and festivities, and judicial proceedings. Today it
is famous for the many jewelry stores all around the street level loggia. The copper-vaulted roof
resembles the hull of an upended boat. Another fine piazza is on the east end of the Basilica,
Piazza delle Biade, with the Baroque Church of Santa Maria dei Servi, its façade influenced by
the Venetian style. From the piazza we're heading north two blocks to the main pedestrian street,
walking along the lovely Contrà Santa Barbara, one of many intriguing side lanes. The main street of
town is 700 meters long and lined with shops and cafés, local tailors, designers, big name brands
like Zara and H&M, many of them housed in what had been palaces back in the days of the Renaissance.
It's the favorite place for locals to come out for a stroll, especially during the afternoon
passeggiata, that fine Italian tradition of people-watching and greeting friends.
Another favorite Italian tradition is trying to figure out which variety of gelato to order.
Or perhaps enjoying a spritz is more to your liking, while sitting at a sidewalk café
and watching the people glide by. This block has the largest palace along the Corso.
It's the magnificent Palazzo Trissino-Baston, home of that noble family in the 17th century, and
more recently the City Hall. The most spectacular palace along the street is found at the east end.
It's called Palazzo Chiericati, designed by Palladio in 1550 in that Renaissance style,
and completed in the late 17th century. Now it's the Civic Museum, with a collection of paintings,
prints, and drawings, and medieval, and modern statues. The same piazza also has
another important building designed by Palladio, the Teatro Olimpico. It's a faithful reproduction
of the ancient style of Roman theater, its permanent stage front decorated with
statues, columns, triumphal arch and tricks of the illusion. Palladio was 72 when he designed this,
which became his final work. He never lived to see it built. The theater is housed in the Palazzo del
Territorio, with 19th-century statues in the garden done in the ancient Roman style.
The Tourist Information Office is also found in this Palazzo, a very helpful source of information
and tickets. "The work of Palladio, based on a detailed study of classical Roman architecture,
gives the city its unique appearance," according to a statement by UNESCO, which designated
the city of Vicenza as a World Heritage Site because of the works of Palladio. UNESCO says
that his work "made a decisive influence on the development of architecture spreading to England
other European countries, and also to North America. He became the inspiration for a
movement without parallel and architectural history." As we continue walking along that
street that bears his name, let me share some more praise from another important organization.
The United States Congress adopted a resolution honoring Andre Palladio in the year 2010,
celebrating the 500th anniversary of his birth. Stating the following: "Palladio’s designs for
public works, churches, mansions and villas, rank among the most outstanding architectural
achievements of the Italian Renaissance. He has shaped much of the architectural image
of Western civilization and served as a primary source for classical design of
many buildings in the US from Colonial times to the present....Including our Capitol Building,
the White House, and countless architectural works of timeless dignity and beauty....The Congress
expresses its gratitude for the enhancement his life and career has bestowed upon the built
environment." As UNESCO described it, "Vicenza is the city of Palladio." We just had time to
show you a few of his buildings in this program, but there are 23 buildings designed by Palladio
in Vicenza and the surrounding area, including some of his villas, and we will show a couple
more of his palaces in town coming up, but there's so much to see that you just might want to stay
in Vicenza for a couple of days, rather than visiting it as a daytrip as we've been doing.
Posted signs and maps can help steer you to the various sites. And you'll find that there are
some fascinating side streets that branch off from the main Corso, like these next couple of streets
reserved for pedestrians and leading back to the Piazza dei Signori.
Contrà is the local word for street. While it's a bonus that Vicenza has such architectural
interest and importance, I find the nicest part of being here is just simply walking around,
especially on the little side streets. It's very quiet and peaceful here. The cobblestone paving
is nice and smooth and comfortable underfoot. The arcade-covered sidewalks are also a delight
for the eyes. We are now reaching the end of the pedestrian zone and heading for the Cathedral,
checking the map as we go along with a little recap. We've been walking on Corso Palladio,
finding the Duomo one block over. The cathedral is the church of Santa Maria Annunciata,
and first dates from the early 11th century, although it's been restored numerous times,
such as after World War II when it was nearly totally destroyed. Palladio designed the dome.
He also designed this palace which is just across the street from Piazza Del Castello.
The tall palace in the center was not designed by Palladio but influenced by his style. It was built
in the 17th century as a residence for the Piovini family, later divided into separate households and
shops. Now it's a department store. One final palace by Palladio: it was supposed to have been
much larger, but only two bays were ever built. We now reach the fortified gate of Porta Castello,
which was part of the medieval wall that went all the way around Vicenza. Back in the 12th
and 13th centuries there were some conflict and alliances between the cities, such as Padua,
Treviso, and Verona, with the smaller town of Vicenza sometimes caught in the middle,
defended by its wall and the fortified Torrioni Tower, which is now open as an art museum.
And that completes our brief visit to Vicenza. There is more to discover here so you better go
and see it for yourself. This is a beautiful place. It's an easy walk from there, just 500
meters to the train station, which is where I am heading to take my train back to Venice. This
has been a daytrip. I got to Vicenza in the late morning. Now I'm leaving at 8 PM, back
to Venice in time for dinner at nine. If you get the semi-express train, it makes only two stops
on the way, and you'll arrive in Venice in 47 minutes. But the local train makes 10 stops along
the way, and it takes an hour and 20 minutes. So it's wise to plan ahead and get that semi-express.
The price is only about €10 and you don't need any seat reservations,
especially when you're traveling in the evening like this. The trains are just not very busy
and you'll soon be back in beautiful Venice. Another excellent daytrip from Venice is to Padua,
which is actually along the same train line. It is about halfway between Venice and Vicenza,
but it's too much to do both of those cities in one day, so it's better to spend two separate
days, one for each, Vicenza, and Padua, as we've shown you in another movie in our collection. By
now we are all eager to be home, especially when it's a home or even a hotel in Venice.
We frequently upload new movies, so please subscribe to our channel and click that
little alarm bell so you'll be notified and if you enjoyed the movie. How about a thumbs up
and we always welcome comments down below, or if you have questions about the destination,
make note and we will answer them. Thanks for watching