Actually this posting begins on Wednesday after we left Kellin and Lara at the train station in Verona. Vicenza was a short trip away, still in the Veneto region. We arrived at Vicenza’s station without a map, but we were determined to find our way to the hotel anyway. So, with bags in tow, we set off to find a map of some sort. Many train stations have one around of the cities they’re in for the ignorant travelers. Well, there were no maps but that didn’t stop us. Luckily, when we walked out into the city one of the first things that greeted us was an interesting map-like thing made out of bronze. We studied it for a while and Sarah took some notes, then we were off.
We bypassed the city center to make our way to the hotel just outside of the historic district. Vicenza was a nice little town but it didn’t have quite as many landmarks as the other cities we have visited. The points of interest had to do with Andrea Palladio. I think he was from Vicenza. He was a Renaissance architect who created many famous buildings around the Veneto.
Since Vicenza, and the rest of the Veneto, was once ruled by the Venetian Republic, you can find the symbols above located all over the region. St. Theodore (seen here on the right, standing on a crocodile) was the original patron saint of Venice, but St. Mark (represented by the winged lion of the left) took over the role, offering a more legitimate patron.
Our hotel room. Not too exciting. They had a nice breakfast though.
The famous Palladio.
This is one of Palladio’s most famous designs. It is the Villa Rotonda, outside of town. Unfortunately, the building was only open for tours on Wednesdays. So we walked around and then sat and enjoyed the view.
All four sides of the villa are identical, though with differing statues.
This was Sarah’s favorite statue.
This is the Teatro Olimpico. It is Europe’s oldest indoor theater. Palladio designed it based on a Roman theater, then died before it was finished. It was finished in 1580.
We took it easy in Vicenza, other than all the walking around. We were pretty tired from the earlier part of our trip to Verona and had some pizza at a restaurant in the piazza. Then, for lunch the next day, we had a crappy, grocery store-bought lunch in the park. Our main entertainment was watching the pigeons strutting around hoping for our crappy lunch. We were pretty eager to get to Venice so we cut our Vicenza time a little short and caught a fairly early train.
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