Vicenza (Vicénsa or Vicènsa in Veneto) is an Italian town of 111
764 inhabitants, the capital of the province of the same name in
Veneto. It is located on the northern edge of the Po Valley, along
the Bacchiglione and Retrone rivers and at the foot of the Berici
hills.
The city is a destination for cultural tourism for its
artistic heritage and has been declared a World Heritage Site by
UNESCO for the numerous architectural contributions of Andrea
Palladio. It is an important industrial center composed of small and
medium-sized enterprises. The productive fabric is driven by the
metalworking, textile and goldsmith sectors, the latter reaching
over a third of total goldsmith exports in the capital.
On 15 December 1994, at the 18th Session of the UNESCO World Heritage
Committee, in Phuket, the “Vicenza City of Palladio” site was included
in the list of world heritage sites according to the following criteria:
Vicenza constitutes an exceptional artistic creation for the
numerous architectural contributions of Andrea Palladio, which
integrated into a historical fabric, determine its overall character.
Thanks to its typical architectural structure, the city has exerted a
strong influence on the history of architecture, dictating the rules of
urbanism in most European countries and throughout the world.
In
addition to the 23 Palladian monuments and the 3 villas in the city, in
1996 another 21 Palladian villas present in the Veneto territory were
included in the World Heritage List. On this occasion the name of the
site became: "City of Vicenza and the Palladian villas in the Veneto".
Basilica Palladiana, rebuilt starting in 1549 by Andrea Palladio, is
the most famous public building. Overlooking Piazza dei Signori, it was
already the fulcrum of not only political activities (city council,
court) but also economic ones in the Middle Ages[25]. To the original
building, built in Gothic forms, Palladio added his classical loggias in
white stone, solving the difficult static problems and adopting, thanks
to the use of serliana, an ingenious stratagem to hide the different
distances between the pillars inherited from previous construction sites
. The ambitious inverted ship's hull roof, covered with copper plates,
partly raised by large archivolts and dating back to the mid-15th
century, was damaged during a bombing in the Second World War and
rebuilt; it was the subject of a sophisticated restoration that began in
2007 and concluded in 2012. In 2014 it was declared a national monument.
Next to the Basilica stands the Bissara Tower, built starting from the
12th century, still one of the tallest buildings in Vicenza with its 82
m. It houses 5 bells in the key of E.
Teatro Olimpico, begun in 1580
as Palladio's last project and finished by his pupil Vincenzo Scamozzi,
is the first example of a stable covered theater of the modern era. It
was completed posthumously limited to the auditorium complete with
loggia and the proscenium. Scamozzi designed the wooden scenes, of great
effect for their perspective illusionism and attention to detail, which
can still be admired today. It was inaugurated on 3 March 1585 with the
performance of Sophocles' Oedipus Rex and is still used today. The
scenes, created specifically for that representation, depict the seven
streets of the city of Thebes and exploit the technique of accelerated
perspective to make the space appear much longer than it actually is (a
few metres). The theatre, with the large proscenium wall, the many
statues and decorations, was made of wood and stucco and was built on
commission from the Olympic Academy inside a disused medieval fortress
(the Palazzo del Territorio, already used as a prison and as a powder
magazine).
Palazzo Barbaran Da Porto, the sumptuous residence for the
Vicenza nobleman Montano Barbarano is the only large city palace that
Andrea Palladio managed to create entirely. It is located in Contrà
Porti and was built between 1570 and 1575. It is the home of the
Palladio Museum and the Andrea Palladio International Center for
Architectural Studies (CISA).
Palazzo del Capitanio (Loggia del
Capitaniato), a late work by Andrea Palladio, overlooks the central
Piazza dei Signori, right in front of the Palladian Basilica. The city
municipal council meets on the main floor. The palace was designed in
1565 and built from 1571 to 1572 as a residence for the representative
of the Republic of Venice in the city. It was decorated by Lorenzo
Rubini; inside there are nine paintings by Giovanni Antonio Fasolo. The
structure is founded on a giant composite order. On the ground floor
there is a large loggia, covered by large vaults, which supports a main
floor with a large hall, the Sala Bernarda, enriched with
sixteenth-century frescoes from one of the Porto villas. The facade of
the building is adorned with four giant semi-columns, in exposed brick,
which reach under the balustrade of the attic, and three large arches.
The decorations are made of Istrian stone and above all stucco. The
columns were designed by Palladio to be covered with white plaster,
playing with the contrast of the red bricks without plaster on the white
stucco. On the main facade the decorations represent the personification
of rivers. The side elevation on Contrà Monte, modeled on the Roman
triumphal arches, is decorated with stucco bas-reliefs and two
allegorical statues placed in the intercolumns, commemorating the
victory of the Spanish-Venetian fleet against the Ottomans in the battle
of Lepanto (7 October 1571), to which the people of Vicenza contributed.
The loggia on the ground floor, enclosed by a high wrought iron gate, a
harmonious space characterized by niches and columns, houses some
plaques in memory of the fallen in the wars.
Palazzo Chiericati, the
large palace located in Piazza Matteotti, home to the civic art gallery,
was built between 1550 and 1680 based on a design by Palladio as a
private noble residence. It consists of a central body with two
symmetrical wings slightly set back, equipped with large loggias at the
level of the main floor. The harmonious façade is structured in two
superimposed orders, a solution never used until then for a private city
residence, with a crowning of statues. Located where the Bacchiglione
and the Retrone once converged, the architect raised it to avoid
flooding. On the frieze of the lower loggia metopes, triglyphs and
bucrania alternate.
Palazzo Leoni Montanari, located in Contrà Santa
Corona, built in 1678 and completed in the first half of the eighteenth
century, is a baroque building erected where the Leoni Montanari already
owned their own buildings, housing rooms for silk spinning, decorated
with frescoes by Paolo Pagani with episodes of Greco-Roman mythology. In
the 18th century it underwent a revisitation in neoclassical style. It
houses a private museum (owned by the Intesa Sanpaolo banking group)
where some masterpieces of Venetian painting and a collection of Russian
icons are exhibited.
Palazzo Porto (also called Porto Festa), located
in Contrà Porti, is one of the two palaces designed in the city by
Palladio for the Porto family (the other is Palazzo Porto in Piazza
Castello); commissioned by the newly married nobleman Iseppo da Porto
(around 1544), the building saw a rather long planning phase and an even
longer - and troubled - phase in its construction, which remained partly
unfinished.
Palazzo Porto in Piazza Castello (Palazzo Porto
Breganze), is located in Piazza Castello, is a noble palace designed in
around 1571 for Alessandro Porto, attributed to Andrea Palladio and
remained unfinished. The section of the palace is clear evidence of the
unfortunate outcome of a Palladian construction site. To the left of the
fragment, the old fifteenth-century house of the Porto family is clearly
visible, which was destined to be progressively demolished as the
construction site of the new palace progressed, which evidently did not
happen.
Casa Pigafetta, built in 1440, was the home of Antonio
Pigafetta, who reworked it in 1481 until it took on its current
appearance. It is a rare example of flowery Gothic, with singular
decorative scores centered on the twisted motif. The side doors are
trefoiled, in arabesque. The Renaissance portal is flanked by a motto
that alludes to the family coat of arms.
Palazzo Pojana, located in
Corso Palladio; was born from the union of two building units separated
by the small road Do Rode (Two Wheels), probably built in 1566 following
a request from Vincenzo Pojana to the Municipality of Vicenza in 1561.
It is attributed to Palladio, who designed it around 1540, and is
included in the list of 23 Palladian monuments of the city which is part
of the UNESCO World Heritage Sites.
Palazzo Trissino (Trissino
Baston, also known as Palazzo Trissino al Corso) is a building located
along Corso Palladio in Vicenza and since 1901 it has been the main
headquarters of the Municipality of Vicenza. The palace was designed in
1588 by Vincenzo Scamozzi (student of Andrea Palladio) and was built for
Count Galeazzo Trissino between 1592 and 1667. It was then completed by
Antonio Pizzocaro and subsequently expanded in the eighteenth century by
Ottone Calderari. The building is characterized by the presence of
classical elements in the façade overlooking the Corso and is structured
around the square of the central courtyard.
Palazzo Valmarana,
located in Corso Fogazzaro, the facade of Palazzo Valmarana is one of
the most extraordinary and singular Palladian creations. For the first
time in a palace, a giant order embraces the entire vertical development
of the building, a solution that originates from Palladian experiments
on the façades of religious buildings. On the façade of Palazzo
Valmarana the stratification of two systems is evident: the giant order
of the six composite pilasters overlaps with the smaller order of
Corinthian pilasters, even more evidently at the edges where the lack of
the final pilaster reveals the underlying system, which supports the
bas-relief of a soldier with the Valmarana insignia. It belongs to the
Braga Rosa family.
Ca' d'Oro (Palazzo Caldogno da Schio), overlooking
Corso Palladio, the palace was built in the fourteenth century in late
Gothic style. The ground floor was rearranged by Lorenzo da Bologna,
author of the rich portal; the atrium and the interior were renovated at
the end of the eighteenth century. In the atrium and courtyard you can
admire a small lapidary collected by Count Giovanni Da Schio in the 19th
century, with amphorae, epigraphs, milestones and a sarcophagus from the
5th century.
Villa Almerico Capra known as the Rotonda, built by
Andrea Palladio starting from around 1566 close to the city, is an
innovative suburban villa originally intended for representative
functions, but also as a quiet refuge for meditation and study. It is
one of the very first examples of the application of a central plan to a
private building. It consists of a square building, completely
symmetrical and inscribed in a perfect circle. Each of the four
identical facades is equipped with a forepart with a loggia which leads
to the central, circular room, surmounted by a dome (concluded by
Scamozzi). Formal elements intended to suggest a sense of sacredness are
also included in the decorative apparatus. Located on the rounded top of
a small hill next to Monte Berico, its plan is rotated 45 degrees with
respect to the cardinal points to allow each room similar solar
exposure.
Villa Trissino, located in viale Cricoli, is a Venetian
villa that belonged to the humanist Giangiorgio Trissino and
traditionally linked to the figure by the architect Andrea Palladio
(although not designed by the latter). Tradition has it that right here,
in the second half of the 1530s, the noble G. Trissino (1478-1550) met
the young stonemason Andrea di Pietro busy on the construction site of
the villa. Somehow sensing his potential and talent, Trissino took care
of his training, introduced him to the Vicenza aristocracy and, within a
few years, transformed him into an architect on whom he imposed the
noble name of Palladio.
Villa Valmarana "Ai Nani", located on the
slopes of Monte Berico, a few hundred meters from Palladio's Rotonda.
Property of the Valmarana noble family for approximately three
centuries, it is still partly inhabited by the family and open to the
public. The important cycle of frescoes housed inside the Palazzina and
the Guesthouse, dated 1757, is the work of Giambattista and Giandomenico
Tiepolo. The villa's nickname is due to the 17 stone sculptures
representing dwarves lined up on the surrounding wall, once scattered
throughout the park.
Arco delle Scalette is a celebratory arch
located in Piazzale Fraccon and built in 1595, the design of which has
been attributed to Palladio (circa 1576). It marks the beginning of one
of the climbing routes to the Sanctuary of the Madonna di Monte Berico
(built in the early fifteenth century), the one consisting of the
Scalette, 192 steps divided into ramps and which represented the only
access point from the city to the sanctuary before of the creation, in
the mid-eighteenth century, of the porticoes by Francesco Muttoni.
Some of the main historic churches of Vicenza:
Cathedral of Santa
Maria Annunciata, built in several phases, dome and northern side portal
are by Andrea Palladio who, most likely, drew up an overall design,
which however was implemented in two phases: from 1558 to 1559 the
cornice was placed above the windows and the tambour was built, and from
1564 to January 1566 the dome was put in place. The characteristic shape
of the lantern, abstract and devoid of decoration, is replicated on the
top of the domes of San Giorgio Maggiore in Venice, being developed in
the same years, and is also present in some Palladian reconstructions of
ancient temples with a central plan, such as the Mausoleum of Romulus on
the Appian Way.
Basilica Sanctuary of the Madonna of Monte Berico,
built in two stages, first in 1428, then completed in 1703 by Carlo
Borella, is made up of two churches dating back to two different eras:
the first in Gothic style, the second a basilica in classical style and
baroque. Inside the adjoining convent the painting The Supper of Saint
Gregory the Great by Paolo Veronese is visible. The bell tower, from
1826, was designed by Antonio Piovene. The construction commemorates the
two apparitions of the Madonna to a pious woman from Vicenza, Vincenza
Pasini, who lived in a small village in the province, and the liberation
of the city from a terrible plague. The bell tower houses 15 B2 bells,
the oldest dating back to 1821.
Basilica of Saints Felice and
Fortunato, was born in the 4th century in a cemetery and was
majestically expanded in the 5th century to house the relics of the
martyrs to whom it is dedicated; after the destruction of the city and
the church itself by the Hungarians in the 9th century, it was rebuilt
in the 10th century at the behest of Bishop Rodolfo and with the
contribution of Emperor Otto II. It is an early Christian basilica that
was initially rectangular, then doubled and divided into three naves.
The Benedictines, following the Hungarian invasions, built a new
baptistery and the semicircular apse, adding the bell tower and the rose
window, as well as a sequence of blind arches and a Byzantine cross on
the façade. During the Baroque era the appearance of the church was
profoundly modified, enriching it with altars and decorations, which
were then removed in a twentieth-century restoration which brought the
building back to its previous appearance. Next to the basilica there is
a small museum exhibition, inaugurated in the 2000s, with archaeological
evidence from the church and the nearby Roman necropolis. The tower,
once a defense tower, now used as a bell tower, houses 10 bells in G
flat major. The fourth is from 1707 cast by the famous Antonio Maria de
Maria.
Church Temple of Santa Corona, built in the thirteenth century
by the will of Blessed Bartolomeo da Breganze, bishop of Vicenza, to
preserve one of the thorns of Christ's crown, is one of the oldest and
most important in the city and the Valmarana Chapel is located there,
designed by Palladio, who was buried in the same church. The church
underwent a major restoration in 2012.
Church of San Vincenzo, the
church dedicated to San Vincenzo of Zaragoza - co-patron saint of
Vicenza, together with the Madonna of Monte Berico - overlooks Piazza
dei Signori, in front of the Palladian Basilica, interrupting the
uniform texture of the Palazzo del Monte di Pietà. The façade was
erected between 1614 and 1617 based on a design by the architects Paolo
and Pietro Borini; it has two loggias with three arches, in Corinthian
and composite style: the loggias are surmounted by a crown showing
Christ mourned by angels, by Giambattista Albanese, who was also
responsible for the five statues of the pediment (the saints Vincenzo,
Carpoforo, Leonzio, Felice and Fortunato). Behind the loggia is the
ancient church from 1387, offset from the building that incorporated it,
with the altar facing east. The interior of the church, modified in 1499
and in the eighteenth century by Francesco Muttoni, was restored in the
1920s. Of note: the fourteenth-century ark by Simone Sarego; the
valuable rococo main altar by Bernardo Tabacco and the altar of the
Pietà, an early marble masterpiece by Orazio Marinali (1689). Inside the
portico, from the cross vaults, on the back wall, red marble stele
(Giovanni Antonio Grazioli, 1583) engraved with the official linear
measurements of the Magnificent Community of Vicenza.
Church of San
Lorenzo, built by the Minorites at the end of the 13th century, in
Gothic style in its Lombard-Po Valley version of the 13th century. It is
located in the central Piazza San Lorenzo, along Corso Fogazzaro and is
officiated by the Conventual Franciscans. The 10 bells in C cast by
Cavadini and Colbachini are interesting and are played regularly on
strings.
Church of Santa Maria Nova, built at the end of the
sixteenth century, represents the only religious architecture designed
and built by Palladio in the city, apart from the Valmarana chapel and
the limited interventions in the cathedral.
Church of Santa Maria dei
Servi, located in Piazza Biade, a small square adjacent to Piazza dei
Signori, its construction began in the early fifteenth century by the
order of the Servi di Maria. The portal of the church was created by the
workshop where Andrea Palladio worked at the beginning of his career and
would constitute one of his very first works.
Church of Santa Maria
in Araceli, built in the seventeenth century in Baroque style on the
site of a previous convent, gave its name to the district of Vicenza of
the same name and is attributed to the architect Guarino Guarini. It has
a central plan.
Church of San Marco in San Girolamo, built in baroque
style in the eighteenth century by the Discalced Carmelites on a
previous church and convent of the Gesuati, was dedicated to San
Girolamo and Santa Teresa d'Avila. The attribution of the project is
uncertain, but the influence of Giorgio Massari's style is evident in
the interior. After the Napoleonic abolition of the religious orders and
their convents, in 1810 it became the church of San Marco, one of the
oldest parishes in the city. It contains numerous works by Venetian
artists of the early eighteenth century, including some masterpieces.
The sacristy retains the original furniture of the time. Home of the
bell school which protects and safeguards the sound of the city's bells.
Church of San Giorgio in Gogna, it is one of the oldest churches in the
city, certainly before the year 1000. Like all churches of the time, the
facade is Romanesque in style. The perimeter walls, made up of
agglomerates of different materials (brick, stone, marble recovered from
other buildings) are a demonstration of the clearly artisanal origin of
the construction, which can be seen especially in the polygonal apse. It
was restored by the diocese in 2011.
Abbey of Sant'Agostino, built on
previous buildings in the 14th century, is located on the western
outskirts of the city, where it gives its name to the parish and hamlet
of the same name. The abbey church was rebuilt in Romanesque style
during the rule of Cangrande della Scala between 1322 and 1357.[29][30]
The church presents a rich decoration. Inside there is a large polyptych
from 1404 by Battista da Vicenza; in the vault of the main chapel the
symbols of the Evangelists alternating with the Doctors of the Church,
including Augustine: at their feet, angels and allegorical figures
including Meekness and Hope. In the keystone is Christ in glory among
the angels.
Church of San Rocco, a small and precious Renaissance
church almost leaning against the Scaliger walls, built in 1485
following a plague in the place where there already stood an oratory or
a sacred shrine dedicated to San Rocco, protector of plague victims. The
Renaissance architecture, not in use at the time in the sacred buildings
of Vicenza, refers to Lorenzo da Bologna (even if the building was
completed by others). Around 1530 the church was extended towards the
east and a new façade was built. A few years after the church, the
adjoining convent was built, in which the regular Canons of San Giorgio
in Alga (a congregation founded in Venice at the end of the 14th
century), called Celestines from the color of their habit, followed from
1486 to 1668; the Carmelite nuns of Santa Teresa, known as Teresine,
then - after the Napoleonic suppressions of the early nineteenth century
- the Hospital of the Exposed, where newborns of illegitimate birth, or
those suffering from psychophysical handicaps or belonging to families
too poor to support them were collected (the wheel , restored, is still
visible). The former monastery, equipped with an evocative cloister, is
home to various socio-cultural activities.
Oratory of San Nicola da
Tolentino, finished in 1678 commissioned by the brotherhood of the same
name, is a chapel that houses a cycle of paintings focused on the life
of the Saint, among the highest peaks of the measured Baroque of
Vicenza.
Oratorio del Gonfalone, was built between 1594 and 1596 by
the brotherhood of the same name, a probable continuation of the ancient
Fratalea S. Mariae de domo, devoted to the Virgin and linked to the
nearby cathedral. The façade is divided by four Corinthian pilasters,
surmounted by a triangular tympanum where two angels are placed holding
up the coat of arms of the brotherhood, while at the crown there are
three statues with that of the Virgin in the centre. The interior has a
single nave. Hit by an Anglo-American bombing in the Second World War,
the oratory suffered the same fate as the Cathedral, that of being
largely destroyed and rebuilt. The main altar and fragments of the
valuable stucco decoration remain, while the original paintings have
been lost (a cycle of canvases on the glorification of the Virgin
created under the direction of Alessandro Maganza and in which his son
Giambattista, Andrea Vicentino, Palma the Younger and Porfirio Moretti),
which were replaced by other canvases from the cathedral of Giovanni
Battista Zelotti, Albanese, Giovanni Battista Maganza the Younger.
Oratorio delle Zitelle, a rare example of a sacred building with an
octagonal plan in the city, is located in front of the church of Santa
Caterina. Built around 1647, it is attributed to Antonio Pizzocaro and
was intended for the Pia Casa Santa Maria delle Vergini (founded in 1604
by the Capuchin preacher Michelangelo from Venice), known as "delle
zitelle", which welcomed and educated young people without sources of
subsistence. Unlike the bare exterior, the interior space is richly
decorated. It is divided into three chapels: that of the main altar,
dedicated to the Virgin Mary, and the lateral ones, in honor of Santa
Cecilia and Sant'Antonio, on the right, and Sant'Orsola, on the left;
the roof is domed, with large "bent" pilasters, on which the ribs are
set, also bent, which rise rapidly to create the ogival structure of the
dome and therefore divide it into eight segments" (Cevese). The oratory
houses a cycle of seventeenth-eighteenth century paintings dedicated to
the Stories of the Holy Virgin, among which there are works by important
Venetian painters: by Francesco Maffei The rest during the flight into
Egypt, The Assumption, The visitation, The crucifixion; the fresco in
the keystone and four paintings are attributed to Giulio Carpioni,
including The Annunciation and The Adoration of the Magi; by Costantino
Pasqualotto two paintings dating back to 1740; the Birth of Mary is a
work of the more modest provincial painter Fortunio Parmigiano. The
building, owned by IPAB, is being restored in 2013.
The main military architecture of the city dates back to the period
of Scaliger domination (end of the fourteenth century) and, although a
large part of the fortifications have been incorporated into new
structures over the centuries, Viale Mazzini still retains its medieval
walls which are the subject of a sophisticated restoration .
In
addition to the walls, the greatest evidence of military architecture is
found in the doors that served as access to the historic center:
Porta Santa Croce, one of the most important remains of the ancient
fortifications still intact, is the last to be built by the Scala family
(it was built in 1385). The Scaligera walls of Viale Mazzini start from
this gate. The door still serves as an entrance to the historic center
(access to Corso Fogazzaro). Given the precarious conditions, in 2012 it
was the subject of important conservative restoration works.
Porta Nova was built in 1381 by Antonio della Scala to further defend
the fortified complex of Rocchetta (where weapons and ammunition for the
city were located). In 1848, fierce battles were fought next to this
gate to defend the city from the Austrians. The door was knocked down in
1926, on the occasion of Benito Mussolini's visit. Nearby, a gap has
been opened in the ancient walls which is given the name Porta Nova, but
which has nothing to do with the original gate.
Porta Castello,
the gate closest to the center (when entering you find yourself in
Piazza Castello) and the main entrance to the city for those coming from
the west, represented the passage through the structures of the Scaliger
castle, from which it takes its name. It stands a short distance from
the older Porta Feliciana which was closed and replaced by the current
one which is part, together with the mighty Tower of Piazza Castello, of
a fortified complex still wanted by the Ezzelini.
Porton del
Luzo, originally a tower house of the Lucii family dating back to the
11th century, the Porton del Luzzo belongs to the same period as the
first medieval circle and is considered one of the oldest gates in
Vicenza. Closed in the 13th century, it was reopened in the mid-16th
century. Remodeled and restored several times with excavation materials
obtained from the nearby Roman theater of Berga, it is characterized by
a battlement that has also been redone.
Porta Santa Lucia, built
in 1369, leads to the village of the same name. It is characterized by a
bas-relief with the Lion of San Marco which was chiselled after the fall
of the Republic of Venice and by a plaque commemorating the names of the
people from Vicenza who died during the battle against the Austrians in
May-June 1848. In 2012 the street that leads the door was the subject of
works on the sewerage system in the area following the 2010 flood.
Porta San Bortolo, a gate built in the Venetian era (precisely in
1455), rather than for defensive purposes, was the barrier for the toll.
It also witnessed the fighting of 1848 and survived the ferocious
bombing of 18 November 1944 which severely hit the San Bortolo district
(then the most populous in the city). The gate was renovated by the
Alpine group of the neighborhood between 1993-1994 and in the same years
the municipality reorganized the road system around the gate (which is
located at one of the intersections of the internal ring road, near the
historic entrance of the San Bortolo hospital). The door has become a
monument inserted inside a roundabout and no longer has the function of
allowing passage under it.
Piazza dei Signori is the main square of the city, the beating heart
of the city government first as the Roman forum of the city, then, in
the Middle Ages and Renaissance, with the Palazzo della Ragione (known
as the Palladian Basilica) where justice was administered and the Loggia
of Capitanio, seat of the representative of the Republic of Venice. In
the square - rectangular in shape - there are also the Bissara Tower,
the civic tower (with its 82 m one of the tallest buildings in the
capital), the Palazzo del Monte di Pietà with the Church of San Vincenzo
(dedicated to the co-patron saint of the city ) and the two columns, one
with the Lion of San Marco and the other with the statue of the
Redeemer.
Piazzetta Palladio, a small square towards the western
side of the Basilica, formerly known as Piazzetta della Rua (from the
name of the wooden car carried by hand through the streets of the
historic center during the Corpus Domini procession). The current name
is instead due to the presence of a statue dedicated to Andrea Palladio,
a nineteenth-century work by the sculptor Vincenzo Gajassi.
Piazza delle Erbe, located at a lower level than Piazza dei Signori, is
so called because it was for a long time home to the fruit and vegetable
and flower market. The square (dominated by the southern side of the
Basilica) also houses a thirteenth-century tower which in the past was
used as a prison and place of torture (Silvio Pellico was also
imprisoned there) called, for this reason, Torre del Girone or del
Tormento. The tower is joined to the Palladian Basilica by an arch,
called the Zavatteri, dating back to 1494 and so called because the shoe
and slippers market (zavate in the language of the time) was once held
under it.
Piazza Biade, located on the eastern side of the
Basilica, is called this because the cereal and seed market has been
held there since 1262. At the end of it, on the left, is the Church of
Santa Maria in Foro, known as the Church of the Servi because its
construction was begun at the beginning of the fifteenth century by the
order of the Servi di Maria. The square houses municipal offices and
some departments in a building built after the Second World War. After
several controversies over the use of the square as a parking lot for
municipal cars, the square was pedestrianised.
Piazza delle
Poste, actually a street (contrà Garibaldi) according to the civic road
map, is known locally as Piazza delle Poste due to the presence of what
was the headquarters of the main Italian Post Office; the building is
one of the greatest examples of Italian rationalist architecture in the
city and has recently been renovated and converted into a residential
building. The square hosts a fountain (the Fontana dei Bambini) from
1984, with bronze sculptures by Nereo Quagliato. It is one of the hubs
of the city's nightlife given the presence of numerous venues for the
"spritz ritual".
Piazza Duomo is home to the bishop's palace with
the diocesan museum and the city cathedral. On the left, detached from
the Cathedral, is the Romanesque bell tower of the Duomo, while on the
southern side of the square is the access to the Roman Cryptoporticus,
the main archaeological monument of the city, rediscovered in 1954 at 6
meters from street level, evidence of a domus Roman of the 1st century.
In the center of the square in 1880 a statue of Vittorio Emanuele II was
erected by Augusto Benvenuti.
Piazza Matteotti, in the past
called Piazza dell'Isola (because it was a small island surrounded by
the waters of the Bacchiglione river, which sometimes invaded it) and
later Piazza Vittorio Emanuele, is dominated by Palazzo Chiericati (home
of the civic art gallery) and the entrance at the Teatro Olimpico, both
Palladian masterpieces.
Piazzetta Santo Stefano, characterized by
the presence of two noble palaces, Palazzo Sesso Zen Fontana from the
14th century and Palazzo Negri de Salvi from the 15th, and above all by
the facade of the church of Santo Stefano, one of the ancient seven city
chapels, redesigned at the end of the seventeenth century.
Piazza
San Lorenzo hosts the nineteenth-century monument to the Vicenza poet
Giacomo Zanella and the baroque Palazzo Repeta (formerly the provincial
headquarters of the Bank of Italy), built between 1701 and 1711, among
the first works of Francesco Muttoni. The Church of San Lorenzo, which
stands on the opposite side, is together with that of Santa Corona one
of the most representative examples of sacred Gothic in the city; it was
built by the Franciscan friars minor in the 13th century. The square
(redeveloped in the 2000s with the moving back of the statue and the
construction of a ground-level fountain with water features) has marked
and continues to mark the days of many young people from Vicenza who
cross it to go to the nearby Pigafetta high schools and Lioy. Until a
few years ago it was famous for being the "black" square of the city, a
meeting point for many young right-wing people on the model of Piazza
San Babila in Milan.
Piazza Castello, diametrically opposite
Piazza Matteotti, is home to several Palladian palaces such as Palazzo
Porto Breganze, Palazzo Thiene Bonin Longare, headquarters of the
Vicenza Confindustria, Palazzo Piovini and the medieval tower of Porta
Castello. The square also houses a statue of Giuseppe Garibaldi created
by Ettore Ferrari in 1887.
Piazzale della Vittoria, a large
panoramic square located on the top of the Monte Berico hill, a short
distance from the city, allows you to enjoy a panoramic view of the
city, with the mountains in the background, the scene of the battles of
the First World War. Particularly packed during the celebrations at the
Sanctuary of the Madonna di Monte Berico, patron saint of the city and
during summer evenings, it is the destination for walks along the
porticoes of Viale X Giugno, as well as the venue for numerous concerts.
Ponte Pusterla is a structure with three arches originally made of
wood, later replaced in 1231 with stone which is accessed from Contrà
San Marco or from Contrà Vittorio Veneto. The name pusterla seems to
refer to a small passage door. Here there was one of the original
entrance gates to the city, which later became of secondary importance
after the advancement of the city walls and was demolished in 1820 to
facilitate connections with the centre. Restored in 1444 and again in
1640, the bridge was widened in 1928 for traffic needs. The Bacchiglione
river flows through it. The bridge, damaged by the flood of 1 November
2010, was the subject of a radical renovation between 2010 and 2011,
which also raised its road surface.
Ponte degli Angeli, rises
near Piazza Matteotti and owes its current name to the ancient church of
Santa Maria degli Angeli (no longer existing) which was created from the
protection tower of the important Ponte di San Pietro. Palladio, between
1555 and 1560, had prepared a restoration project. A few centuries
later, in 1889, the building was completely demolished because it was
considered an obstacle to the flow of the Bacchiglione river and
replaced with an iron structure, which connected the two banks until
after the Second World War, when the bridge was rebuilt in reinforced
concrete with a structure more suitable to withstand the growing
vehicular traffic.
Ponte Furo from which you can admire one of
the most evocative images of Vicenza: the Retrone river which winds
through the buildings and in the background the Palladian Basilica
flanked by the city tower is in fact one of the most beautiful views of
the city. The bridge stands near the point where the Seriola canal
flowed into the Retrone where, once upon a time, there was the Eretenia
Barrier, one of the customs entrances through the wall that delimited
the city.
Ponte delle Barche, located in the central Barche
district and is the oldest of the bridges in Vicenza, with three arches
supported by pillars made of large stone blocks. The structure has very
low arches, such that in case of heavy rain the Retrone reaches beyond
the arches flooding the bridge.
Ponte San Michele was built in
the seventeenth century on the model of Venetian bridges. The name
derives from the convent and the Romanesque-Gothic church of San
Michele, the first rich in art and built in the thirteenth century by
the Augustinian friars, partially demolished in the last century to give
new spaces to the city, the second destroyed in the Napoleonic era. It
can only be crossed by pedestrians.
Ponte San Paolo, which leads
from Piazza delle Erbe to the contrà of the same name, was located on
the main axis that crossed the city from north to south in Roman times.
After a flood of the river, some loading and unloading chutes emerged
used by the boats that went up the Retrone and transported the goods up
to under the Bridge itself, adjacent to the area where the city market
takes place; historically, it seems that these slides date back to
medieval times and that they had great importance for Vicenza, where
river merchant transport was widely used until the eighteenth century.
Ponte Novo, originally the Bridge of Converts due to its proximity
to a monastery where young women eager to approach religious life were
welcomed, the Ponte Novo was demolished and rebuilt in the 2000s. It
connects the northern part of the city with the Corso Fogazzaro area.
Until a few decades ago, when the waters of the river were suitable for
swimming, young people from Vicenza used to dive from this bridge for a
swim.
Almost all the streets and roads in the historic city center are
identified with the toponym contrà (abbreviation for contrada). The
squares and the two main streets are exceptions.
Corso Palladio
is the heart of Vicenza, the shopping street, always crowded due to the
now well-known Vasche in Corso. The route of the road has remained
almost unchanged since Roman times, when it served as the decumanus
maximus of the Vicetia of the time, in turn set on the consular Via
Postumia. It extends for approximately seven hundred metres, from Piazza
Castello to Piazza Matteotti, from West to East, and represents a
veritable gallery of churches and prestigious buildings that overlook
it, partly designed by Palladio. It is totally pedestrianised, like most
of the surrounding streets.
Corso Fogazzaro follows the route of
one of the minor cornerstones of the Roman city and cuts through the
north-western sector of the historic center starting from the
intersection with Corso Palladio. 630 meters long (up to the Santa Croce
gate), the course is named after Antonio Fogazzaro, one of the most
famous writers of Vicenza, author of novels such as Malombra, Piccolo
mondo antico and Piccolo mondo moderni, in which the provincial society
between the nineteenth and twentieth centuries.
Contrà Porti,
Cardo Massimo of the city in Roman times, the street was one of the axes
from which the building renovation of the 15th century began and on
which Palladian interventions were also grafted. Along the road there
are many palaces of the Da Porto family (from which the street takes its
name) such as Palazzo Iseppo Da Porto (which houses, inside, rooms
frescoed by Giambattista Tiepolo) and Palazzo Porto Colleoni. Also by
Palladio is the majestic Palazzo Barbaran Da Porto, from 1569, home to
the Andrea Palladio International Center for Architectural Studies
(CISA) which faces the fifteenth-century wing of Palazzo Thiene.
In the municipality of Vicenza, in addition to
Major Cemetery –
built starting from 1815 and divided into several sectors – which also
hosts the funeral of illustrious citizens
Six other cemeteries
are active, once belonging to neighboring towns which have now become
hamlets of the city; are those of:
Madeleine
Polegge
Bertesina
Farmhouse
Settecà
Longara
The historic non-Catholic cemetery on
Viale Fratelli Bandiera is no longer used, but remains open as a green
area.
In addition to the classic neighborhood parks in the city there are
numerous green areas, some historic (Campo Marzo and Giardini Salvi)
others recently established (Parco del Retrone, Parco Fornaci). All the
parks, flowerbeds and plants in Vicenza are looked after by Valore Città
AMCPS. The most important parks in the city are:
Campo Marzo is
the largest green area in the city, the oldest to be owned by the
municipality and one of the few without limitations on access times (the
park has no fences). It stands on the slopes of Monte Berico, close to
the train station. Divided into two sectors by Viale Roma, this park
presents, in the western part, a series of paths that surround some
statues (one to Antonio Pigafetta, one to Antonio Fogazzaro) and the
large playground in Via dell'Ippodromo, and on the eastern part the
characteristic Viale Dalmazia (completely redeveloped in recent years)
where, in September, the carousels are placed for the feast of the
Patron Saint.
Giardini Salvi, is a small garden (open since 1909)
adjacent to the walls of Piazza Castello, in the center and features
rich vegetation, a sinuous path of its avenues, which wind between
fountains and statues, running alongside the Seriola canal. The presence
of the Longhena loggia and the Valmarana loggia, the second work in
Palladian style, are important. For some years, Christmas markets have
been held in the Gardens. Subject of a radical redevelopment between
2008 and 2009, the garden also features a path suitable for disabled
people, as well as a collector's rose garden.
Querini Park,
another large green lung of the capital (120,000 m²), located between
the historic center and the San Bortolo hospital, is characterized by
vast lawns, an extensive grove and a charming tree-lined avenue (flanked
by classical style statues) , which leads to a small monopterous temple
set on a small artificial island surrounded by a moat. Having become
municipal property in 1971, it is the park par excellence for jogging,
also given the presence of a fitness trail. In 2010, a sector of the
park was enriched with a series of recreational-scientific tools
suitable for understanding refraction, kinetic energy and other physical
phenomena.
Retrone Park, it is a park that extends along the
Retrone river, in the Railway District, the third largest park (40,000
m²). Rich in young trees (the park was established in 1997), flowering
bushes and spaces for sports (volleyball, football and canoeing), it is
managed by Legambiente.
Naturalistic oasis of the Casale "Alberto
Carta" ponds, established in 1998 in the hamlet of the same name south
of the capital, consists of approximately 30 hectares of marshy
reservoirs, used (until a few decades ago) for the exploitation of
clayey sediments. Once the excavation activity was completed, the area
was populated with animals and plants typical of areas rich in water.
The Oasis (managed and protected by the WWF) is one of the few natural
wetlands in the Vicenza plain.
Villa Guiccioli Park: it is
located near the Museum of the Risorgimento and the Resistance and
occupies the top of the Ambellicopoli hill with an extension of
approximately four hectares. It is rich in plants belonging to both the
local flora and exotic species including the Zelcova, listed among the
monumental trees of the province of Vicenza.
Parco Fornaci is the
latest park established in the city (the inauguration took place in the
summer of 2007), it extends over 35,000 m² and is located in the Viale
Crispi area, in an area that required reclamation intervention
environmental after the demolition of the old Lampertico furnaces. The
park is equipped with around a hundred plants, a pond, three fountains
with water features, recreational facilities such as a bowling green, a
fitness trail and a skateboard track, the second largest in Italy,
measuring 25 meters per side.
Peace Park: a large park north of
the city, under construction (since 2019) in the area of the former Dal
Molin airport.
The municipal territory of Vicenza extends for 80.57
km², between the northern part of the Berici Hills and the eastern
part of the Lessini, 50 km east of Verona and 70 west of Venice, 40
north-west of Padua, 60 a south-west of Treviso, 110 south of
Belluno and 80 north of Rovigo.
The city has a flat southern
part located at an altitude of 26 m a.s.l. (Borgo Casale area), the
part of the historic center that develops between 33-40 m asl,
between the bends of the main rivers Bacchiglione, Retrone and
Astichello and finally a hilly part (belonging to the system of the
northern ridges of the Berici Hills) with a maximum altitude of 183
m asl (corresponding to Monte Bella Guardia).
The municipal
territory includes not only the urban core, which expanded
considerably during the twentieth century, but also the countryside
areas on the outskirts and the area of Monte Berico, which
dominates the city from above.
As far as seismicity is concerned, the capital of Berico has been classified with a grade 3 out of 4 seismic risk or low seismic risk (PCM 3274 Ordinance of 20/03/2003).
The historic core of
the city rises at the confluence of the Bacchiglione river with its
tributary Retrone. Other waterways touch Vicenza: the Astichello
river (which flows into the Bacchiglione from the north-east), the
Tesina river (which laps the city to the east) and the Orolo stream
(which descends from the north and also flows in the Bacchiglione).
During the Middle Ages these waterways had a decisive influence
on the history, defense and development of the city.
In
addition to rivers, Vicenza and the area north of the city is also
very rich in groundwater and resurgence water, so much so that, for
centuries, the city of Padua and part of its province have been
drawing water from the Vicenza area and, through the aqueduct
located in the Novoledo di Villaverla area, lead it to the Padua
area.
Unfortunately, due to the considerable post-war
urbanization, many ditches and drainage channels have been closed or
drained and large areas of once agricultural land have been
transformed into industrial areas, ending up by channeling the
runoff of the waters that reach the plain from the Vicenza
mountains. , only on the main rivers.
Precisely because it is
located at the meeting point of rivers (Bacchiglione and Retrone in
primis) the city of Vicenza is considered an area at hydrogeological
risk; in the past it was in fact hit by several floods: particularly
significant those of September 1882 and November 4, 1966. Between
the first and November 2, 2010 the city was hit by a new flood which
submerged 20% of the municipal area causing serious damages and two
casualties.
On 11 November 2012 Vicenza risked a second
flood, only two years after that of 2010. The level of the
Bacchiglione at the Ponte degli Angeli touched 6.05 meters, thus
going well beyond the guard level (so much so that , for the first
time, the flood alarm sirens installed by the municipality on some
bell towers of the city were activated), then the flood wave
decreased. The damage was however considerable in some areas of the
city, largely flooded (2.3 km² of flooded territory on 80.54 km² of
municipal territory) by the flooded water in some points and by the
high pressure output from the sewer pipes.
Vicenza
has a continental climate with cold and wet winters, while summers
are hot and sultry. Positive effects have the hills and mountains
which, very often, are able to block disturbances. On average, the
duration of the day is twelve hours and sixteen minutes, with a
minimum peak in December (eight hours and forty-nine minutes) and
maximum in June (fifteen hours and forty minutes).
Average
annual rainfall amounts to 1,060 mm, on average distributed over 88
rainy days, with a relative minimum in winter, maximum peak in
autumn and secondary maximum in spring for accumulations. The
average annual relative humidity records the value of 74.6% with a
minimum of 70% in July and August and a maximum of 81% in December;
on average there are 59 days of fog per year.