What to do and see in Province of Vicenza, Italy: The Best Places and Tips

The project of the Foundation - a private non-profit organization that is open to the public – arosefrom the attention and sensitivity towards the culture of design and architecture that have alwaysdriven Bisazza. The Bisazza Foundation has a dual vocation: it is intended as an exhibition space to bring together works and installations by contemporary designers and architects who, over the course of the last 20 years, have created original applications for mosaics; it is also proposed as a cultural subject in continuous interaction with other international institutions for the purposes of hosting projects and Exhibitions of design and architecture, not necessarily associated with mosaics.

Andrea Palladio’s last work and masterpiece, the Olympic Theatre was commissioned in February 1580 by the Accademia Olimpica, a society of mixed social classes founded in Vicenza in 1555 for cultural and scientific purposes and to which Palladio himself belonged. Construction began in May 1580, but Palladio died suddenly on 19 August of that year so did not see its completion. After various, complex delays, the theatre was completed five years later and opened on 3 March 1585 with the memorable staging of Sophocles’ Oedipus Tyrannus. The theatre is reached by way of the odeon and anti-odeon, two large rooms designed by Vincenzo Scamozzi and decorated respectively with frescoes by Francesco Maffei portraying divinities and allegorical figures (c. 1637) and a monochrome frieze of considerable documentary interest (c. 1595). This depicts theatrical productions presented by the Accademia before construction of the Olimpic Theatre (Amor costante, Sophonisba) and shows or events held in the new theatre (Oedipus the King, the diplomatic Mission of Japanese envoys). Palladio designed a monumental scenae frons within an enclosed space intended to simulate classical theatres in the open air. It is flanked by two wings or stage doors and a semi-elliptical cavea with thirteen tiers, ending in a columned exedra at the top, partly open and partly with niches in the wall. Statues of the academicians who commissioned the theatre, dressed in classical costume, occupy the niches and plinths of the structure. A series of splendid bas reliefs showing stories of Hercules by Ruggero Bascape occupies the highest row. Wooden perspective scenery of the streets of Thebes runs back from the three openings in the scenea frons. This was designed by Scamozzi for the opening performance of Oedipus Tyrannus and has remained as a permanent feature

Established in 1898, Poli Distillerie is an artisan-type company owned by the Poli family and located in Schiavon, near Bassano del Grappa, in the heart of Veneto, the most renowned region in Italy for Grappa production.The bulding of the Poli Distillery is considered to be of major historical interest because of its portico structure which is typical of the old Veneto rural dwellings.

The Dominican church was built in 1261 to house the relic of the Holy Thorn donated by Louis IX, king of France, to the bishop of Vicenza, the Blessed Bartolomeo da Breganze. The Gothic interior, with chancel by Lorenzo da Bologna from the second half of the fifteenth century, houses many important paintings and sculptural works. These include Giovanni Bellini’s masterpiece “The Baptism of Christ”, in the Garzadori altar, attributed to Rocco da Vicenza, and the “Adoration of the Magi” by Paolo Veronese. There is also a “Madonna of the Stars”, by Lorenzo Veneziano and Marcello Fogolino, a "Magdalen and Saints" by Bartolomeo Montagna and a “Virgin, Child and Saints” by Giambattista Pittoni. The apse is furnished with a fine wooden choir, carved and inlaid by Pier Antonio dell’Abate. The frescoes by Michelino da Besozzo in the Thiene Chapel are among the earliest decorations, dating from the early fifteenth century and offering a mature example of the International Gothic style.