We have enjoyed a 2 day / one night  stay in the beautiful city of Vicenza (UNESCO listed) and known for it’s elegant buildings designed by the 16th Century architect , Andrea Palladio.

We caught the train, dumped our bags at the Hotel , and headed straight for the stunning Piazza dei Signori with its magnificent buildings. The Palladian Basilica , which goes along almost one complete side of the Piazza was quite impressive and we ventured up to the terrace for a view of the rooftops!

Also in the Piazza was the Loggia del Capitaniato , once a military office for the Venetian Republic and today the Town Council.

Also in the Piazza was the 82 metre Torre Bissara, constructed in the 12th Century.

 

Of course , after a couple of hours walking , it was time for a drink. It was very pleasant sipping on an aperol spritz admiring the Piazza with it’s 2 columns (winged lion, the emblem of Venice and the Redeemer)

 

After some more meandering , it was time for lunch and the Calabrese Salad with buffalo mozzarella was rather delicious, and of course it was washed down with a couple more drinks!

We checked out the rather pretty Ponte san Michele and then it was time to rest up for a while and “psyche” ourselves up for dinner.

And what a dinner it was!!!!!!!!!! Rhonda’s ravioli , with herbs, “hay butter” , hazlenuts and white asparagus was sensational, and Greg enjoyed his linguine with prawns , broad beans and raspberry sauce!!!!!! Of course it was washed down with a nice wine or 2!

 

After dinner we NEEDED a walk. We were a little disappointed that the buildings were not lit up as much as we had hoped!

 

Wandering out for coffee the next morning, imagine our surprise when we saw that the whole of the lovely piazza was taken over by the weekly market! We still had plenty to see though.

First stop was the beautiful Olympic Theatre. It was opened in 1585 and was Palladio’s last work and masterpiece.

 

It is the oldest roofed theatre in the world and the stage gives it a great “illusion of depth”. It was amazing!

Even the gardens at the entrance to the theatre were lovely!

We visited the Palazzo Chiericati , the Art Gallery of Vicenza ( we don’t normally visit the inside of Art Galleries!) but Greg wanted to see the frescoed ceiling inside! Bad luck…..that part  was closed for renovations.

We did however see lavish frescoes and statues in the Palazzo Leoni Montanari.

 

Of course we needed to do lunch before we made our way back home! Again we made a good choice! Rhonda’s Bigoli pasta with duck ragu and Greg’s spaghetti with clams were both sensational.

 

We enjoyed our stay in Vicenza , walked our legs off, saw lots of Palazzos , drank lots of aperols , and ate some fantastic food!

We had a rest day yesterday as Greg’s knees after all the walking were “merda” (translation…shit)  We have to get them right for our 2 day stay in Bologna next week….more walking , more eating and more drinking!

Today after an epic session on the telephone and lap top with Air B n B , sorting out some issues , we decided to shout ourselves lunch! Wow, what a lunch it was! We went to the local Trattoria Molinetto with it’s speciality of “costata” that’s a 1kg rib eye , cooked on the wood fired grill. OMG!

 

We must say this was shared between us with a salad and roast potatoes! We decided we would not have “dolce” but when Greg saw that there was Pannacotta , of course  ONE was ordered!

 

It was pretty bloody good , up there with the best, but Greg still searching for the best one!!!!

Update on the weather for you “coldies” back in Melbourne. It is still sunny and around 30 degrees, good drinking weather!

Speaking of which, it’s that time again!

Ciao for now

Greg and Rhonda.