Author: Joseph

Scenes from the Padua Botanical Garden, a department of the University of Padua, one of Europe’s oldest. The garden was founded in 1545.

Vicenza is only 20 minutes from Padua by rail, but another world. While Vicenza is quiet and very polished, Padua is far more big city, busier and noisier. We spent a big part of the afternoon in the cathedral Baptistry, painted by Giusto de Menabuoi in the early 14th century at the same time Giotto…

Across the road from Villa Rotonda is Villa ai Nani, owned by another branch of the Valmarana family. The Villa, built in 1670, is not as old as La Rotonda. It is set in more extensive formal gardens and in addition to the main house, La Palazzina, there is a guesthouse larger than the main…

Certainly Palladio’s most famous country villa is La Rotonda. Each side of the villa is identical to the other three, and the interiors open off a rotunda that soars from the main floor. The walls are sumptuously painted. A long low service building that borders the entrance drive houses the service areas that made the…

Santa Corona, a 13th century church, houses many treasures including Bellini’s Baptism of Christ and Veronese’s Adoration of the Magi. The early 13th century Dominican church was also seat of the Inquisition in Vicenza until the early 19th century. I was most fascinated with the central altar’s elaborate pietradura, inlaid stone work, and the inlaid…

Vicenza is a small city, although many blocks are lined with palaces. There are palaces everywhere, some designed by Palladio in the 1500s. Two of the better preserved are Palazzo Thiene and Palazzo Leoni Montanari,the second, also known as galleria d’Italia, houses a notable collection of Russian icons. Wandering the city today I encountered two…

Train today from lovely Mantua to dream-like Vicenza, home of Palladio, the 16th century architect. Vicenza is rich with Palladio’s palaces, public buildings, churches and other buildings. One of the more remarkable buildings — although it is hard to make such distinctions — is Palladio’s 1585 theater, Europe’s first indoor theater, still in use. Vicenza…

There should be a rule about not visiting two palaces in one day. That is precisely what I did today and the images are confused in my mind. This morning was the 450 room ducal palace of the Gonzaga family; this afternoon their pleasure palace, Palazzo Te. Palazzo Te had amazingly painted ceilings, as did…

Mantua was about two hours from Bologna by train, and a small city with a dramatically different feel. Everything is much slower in Mantua. After a slow lunch we visited three churches: tiny San Lorenzo from the 11th century, a place Matilda of Canosa worshipped; Sant’ Andrea, the large basilica; and the cathedral. The city…

This visit to Bologna has been very relaxed and low stress. Last night’s dinner was a memorable one in a tiny restaurant where dishes a grandmother might have cooked were elevated to the sublime — a mortadella and potato sformatino (sort of soufflé), eggplant Parmesan, white meat lasagne, and tiramisu. Today we began in the…