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 The
magic of Venice
Bergamo
–
Brescia
-
Lake Garda
-
Mantua
–
Verona
-
Vicenza
–
Venice
Leaving
Milan we reach
Bergamo,
TOP where
we can visit the mediaeval upper city
with the imposing church
of S.
Agostino,
Piazza
Vecchia
with
the Gothic Palazzo
della Ragione,
and the matchless Piazza del
Duomo.
Built in widely differing styles stand the
Renaissance
Colleoni
Chapel, built by Amadeo for the
Venetian condottiere
Bartolomeo Colleoni,
the Baptistery, and S. Maria
Maggiore
which was begun in die 12th c. and only completed in
the 16th. The
Accademia
Carrara houses one of
Italy's leading art
collections. After Bergamo
we will drive towards Lake
Iseo,
via Lake
Endine,
Lovere and Pisogne. Traveling eastwards we reach
 Brescia,
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to see the famous Piazza
della
Loggia with its Renaissance 'Loggia'
— the
former city hall built by Sansovino and
Palladio —
and the Torre
dell'Orologio
tower, Piazza
Duomo
and the mediaeval
Broletto,
the Torre del
Popolo
and the Romanesque
Rotonda
church.
Brescia
still treasures die ruins of the
Capitoline
temple built by Vespasian,
bearing witness to its Roman past. Nearby is the
Roman
Museum
with the
1st
c. bronze Winged Victory. The
'Pinacoteca Tosio
Martinengo' is well worth a
visit. Let us stroll up to the Castle and enjoy the
amazing view of the Alps.Not
far away is
Lake
Garda:
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around its shores are some of Italy's best-known
holiday resorts belonging to three provinces in
three different administrative regions: Desenzano,
Salò, Gardone, Riva, Malcesine,
Garda
and the spa resort of Sirmione
which Catullus, the Latin poet, loved so much, with
its Roman ruins and imposing 12th c. Castle. Passing
through
Peschiera,
we will now make our way to
Mantua,
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the city of
Virgil, ruled for two
centuries by the
Gonzaga
family. The mediaeval Piazza
Sordello stands at the heart of the city, with the
Ducal
Palace, and the
 Gonzagas'
Palace, one of the largest and sumptuous in
Europe
(13th-18th c.). As you walk through the succession
of halls, courtyards, corridors and hidden gardens,
you can still sense the former gaiety of the
princely court where opera was fathered by
Claudio
Monteverdi, and view the artistic treasures. The
famous 'Camera
degli Sposi'
was frescoed by Andrea Mantegna. But the city has so
many other treasures: its cathedral, Piazza
delle Erbe,
Palazzo
della Ragione,
the
13 th c. Palazzo Broletto,
the Romanesque Church of S.
Lorenzo, the Basilica
of
S. Andrea — a
masterpiece of
Renaissance
architecture designed by
Alberti, the
Palazzo del
Te
(the Gonzagas' villa, designed and decorated by
Giulio
Romano), and the
Accademia Virgiliana
with its 18th
c. Teatro Scientifico
designed by
Bibbiena.
The next stop is
Verona,
TOP
one of
Italy's most
fascinating cities lying in a delightful natural
setting, and endowed
with a
wide variety of monuments and
historic buildings, where the annual 'Estate
Veronese' festival is held. We can begin by visiting
Piazza Bra, with its Roman Arena, second only to the
Colosseum in Rome, where the summer
Opera festival is staged. Castelvecchio, built in
the 14th c.
by Cangrande
della Scala,
is now the
Municipal
Art Museum
(paintings of the Venetian school from the 14th to
the 18th c., wrought gold, enamels, miniatures and
sculptures). There are many churches that are well
worth visiting: S.
Zeno Maggiore,
one of Italy's Romanesque masterpieces (the
west doorway was built in
1138,
bronze door, frescoes, sculptures, and a superb
tryptych by Mantegna); the Gothic Church of S.
Anastasia,
with frescoes by
Altichiero and
Pisanello; S. Fermo Maggiore, S. Lorenzo, the
Romanesque Cathedral, and so many more.
Let us not forget Piazza
dei Signori — a
mediaeval and Renaissance square with Palazzo
della Ragione
and the Loggia, near the
Arche Scaligere,
where the
della Scala
family is buried. Or Piazza
delle Erbe,
with its typical market. No-one
can leave without going on a pilgrimage to the
places associated with Juliet Capuleti (her home,
tomb) whom Shakespeare made famous in one of the
most moving tragedies of love ever written. Other
monuments include the Roman
Theatre, the
Archaeological
Museum,
the
Ponte Pietra
bridge, and the many city gates.
Vicenza
TOP
is
50
kms away, and today it still looks very much as it
was in Renaiss ance
times, with so many buildings designed by the great
architect
Palladio. Corso Palladio
runs through the centre of the city from end to end,
flanked by one fine historic building after another.
The buildings at Contra' Porti are equally
impressive.
Then there is the Gothic Palazzo da Schio, Palazzo
Colleoni-Porto, Casa Trissino, Casa Porto and
Palazzo Thiene.
The Renaissance set its glorious seal on the city
with the Basilica and the Loggia del Capitanio in
Piazza
dei Signori,
the
Teatro Olimpico,
and Palazzo
Chiericati —
all works by
Palladio.
Palazzo
Chiericati
houses the
Municipal
Museum
(archaeology, paintings, particularly by Venetian
artists, and major works by Memling and Van Dyck).
The Gothic cathedral, the churches of
S. Lorenzo and the Santa
Corona, and a number of noteworthy minor churches
and palaces complete this short description of the
city, as well as the beauty spots and sites that we
might visit just outside the town, if we have time:
the Basilica of Monte Berico, the 17th c. Villa
Valmarana frescoed by Tiepolo, Villa
Capra, Palladio's
masterpiece known as the
'Rotonda',
and Villa Caldogno. We now make our way to mediaeval
Treviso,
with its picturesque canals, via the 13th-14th c.
walled town of
Cittadella,
and
Castelfranco
where Giorgione was born (in the cathedral is his
famous youthfull Madonna). In Treviso, we should try
to visit the Gothic church of S. Nicolò, the 'Pinacoteca'
Art Gallery, Piazza dei Signori, palazzo dei
Trecento (1217), the Loggia dei Cavalieri, the
cathedral, and the interesting Museo della Casa
Trevigiana. From
Treviso
we can make a brief visit to
Maser,
to see Palladio's splendid Villa
Barbaro
(now called Villa
Volpi)
built in
1560,
with frescoes by Veronese. It is only
20
kms now to
Venice.
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After crossing the industrial
town of
Mestre,
she emerges little by little in
all her splendour. S. Mark's Square is the best
place to start, "the most splendid drawing-room in Europe", as Napoleon called it. There are two routes that
we can take to see at least the most essential
treasures of this uniquely beautiful city, (which
was founded in the 5th c, and grew in importance as
trade increased bet ween
the East and the West, later becoming the
'Serenissima'
Maritime Republic, the 'queen' of the Adriatic,
which remained independent until the dawn of the
19th century)
.
Greek, mediaeval, Byzantine,
Tuscan, Lombard and Venetian art have all left
their indelible mark on S. Mark's Basilica. Nearby
is the Ducal
Palace
built in flamboyant Venetian Gothic style. Inside is
the most fairy-tale like public residence of all
times
—
a shrine of Venetian painting, with works by
Carpaccio,
Bellini, Tiepolo, Veronese,
Bassano and Titian. From the adjacent square on the
quayside you can look out to the
Island of
S. Giorgio
Maggiore
(church by
Palladio
and Scamozzi), the
Lido, the
Riva degli Schiavoni
and
Punta della Dogana with
the Basilica
della
Salute. Other treasures around the square are the
Libreria
which houses the
Biblioteca Marciana
library, the Procuratie (built for the Venetian
government), the Clocktower with the statues of the
Moors, the
Museo Correr
(works by
Antonello da
Messina,
Carpaccio
and other great masters). Cross
the Grand Canal to
the Basilica
della
Salute, Longhena's 18th c. masterpiece. After a few
more bridges, walking along the narrow Venetian
streets, we come to the
Galleria dell'Accademia,
one of Italy's leading museums (works by
all the great Venetian 14th-18th c. artists,
Mantegna,
Piero della Francesca,
etc.). After this we can see
one delight after the other: Palazzo Rezzonico (18th
c.
Venetian
Art
Gallery),
the picturesque
Campo
Santa
Margherita
square, the
Scuola di San Rocco
with its huge halls decorated
with a magnificent cycle of paintings by Tintoretto.
Just after the Gothic church of
S. Maria
Gloriosa dei Frari
(inside is Titian's
'Assumption') we reach the ancient
church
of
S.
Giacomo di Rialto
and the famous
Rialto
Bridge,
with its small shops and awe-inspiring view of the
Grand Canal.The
second walk takes us from S. Mark's to the romantic
Bridge of Sighs, the church of S.
Zaccaria —
a masterpiece of Venetian Renaissance architecture—
the chapel of S. Maria Formosa in the square of the
same name, where we can visit the interesting
Pinacoteca Querini
Stampalia. And so we come to the
Scuola di S.
Giorgio
degli Schiavoni,
famed for its paintings by
Carpaccio (1502-1511),
and then the grandiose Gothic church of
SS.
Giovanni
e
Paolo (13th-15th c.), with its important collection
of monuments and paintings. In the centre of the
square is the majestic equestrian statue of
Colleoni,
by Verrocchio. Heading towards the Grand Canal, we
come across the early Venetian Renaissance church of
S. Maria
dei Miracoli,
decorated with coloured marble, and then the miracle
of Venetian Gothic, Ca'
d'Oro,
which houses the
Galleria Franchetti.
After this stands Palazzo Vendramin-Calergi, where
Wagner died, and Palazzo Labia (frescoed by Tiepolo,
and used for concerts and recitals). If we had more
time we could spend days in the palaces, museums and
churches feasting our eyes on the marvels of Venice:
visiting the Belltower of S. Mark's, the
Archaeological Museum, the
La Fenice
Theatre,
Palazzo Foscari, Palazzo Corner, Palazzo
Pesaro,
Palazzo
Pisani
and Palazzo Grimani, the
'Bovolo'
staircase, the churches of S.
Sebastiano
(with a cycle of superb paintings by Veronese), S.
Rocco,
the
'Redentore',
and the Madonna
dell'Orto.
But however long we spent here,
we shall still go away feeling that we have missed
so much of the atmosphere that no other city can
create. On foot, by gondola, or on the busboat, the
visitor can return time and time again, and
rediscover the fairy tale beauty of this Western Byzantium, this unique, regal city, that draws
people from all over the world for conferences,
festivals, exhibitions and traditional arts and
crafts.
We cannot leave without a boat
trip to Burano, the island where lace is still made,
Murano,
the island of traditional
Venetian glassmaking, and the enchanting
island of
Torcello
(Romanesque cathedral and
Church of
S.
Fosca).
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