Since I finished Padova in a day versus a weekend, I decided to check the train map and see where I could go of course! Vicenza was less than 30 minutes away and there was a UNESCO site that I had on my giant “what-I-would-love-but-know-is impossible-to-do-in-Italy-in-three-months” list.
The Villas are important for the history of architecture. Here’s the low down from UNESCO: Andrea Palladia (which is why they’re called the Palladian Villas) is the man responsible for numerous sites all over Vicenza (23 which are included in the UNESCO listing); his most famous work is La Rotunda. This building is identical on all four sides and exhibits absolute simplicity and adherence to geometric perfection. This building inspired Thomas Jefferson’s Monticello (also a UNESCO World Heritage Site & an image in the AP Art History 250) and many of the Neoclassical (Greek and Roman revival) buildings all over Europe and America, which is why it is so famous and important.
Also while in Vicenza there was an “eat around Italy” festival, awesome timing for lunch. I then got back on a 30 minutes train to Padova, collected my luggage from the hotel and caught the 2:47 pm train back to Novara.
Needless to say I’m pretty pleased with this solo excursion. My stats:
- 1 weekend
- 2 museums
- 3 churches
- 2 UNESCO sites
- 2 important art history locations
- 2 gardens
- Heck-of-a-lot of kilometers of walking
JMO
