What to do and see in Vicenza, Veneto: The Best Things to do

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

The Palladian Basilica is a public building facing onto the Piazza dei Signori. Its name is linked to Andrea Palladio, who redesigned it, adding the famous loggias with serliana openings in white marble to the existing Gothic building. The building on which Palladio worked was the Palazzo della Ragione, built in Gothic style in the mid-fifteenth century. The upper floor is entirely taken up by an enormous hall with no intermediate supports, where the Council of the Four Hundred met. The copper-lined, inverted ship’s-hull roof was inspired by that of the Palazzo della Ragione in Padua. The Gothic facade was originally clad with diamonds of red and straw yellow Verona marble, which are still visible behind Palladio’s addition. A loggia surrounding the building was commissioned after its completion, but continually delayed due to various structural difficulties and the nature of the ground beneath. At the beginning of the sixteenth century the double order of porticoes and loggias, though not complete, collapsed. The Council called on many leading architects of the time to resolve the difficult problem of its reconstruction. They included Jacopo Sansovino, Sebastiano Serlio and Giulio Romano. The project was awarded to Andrea Palladio (1508-80) in 1549, following a competition, and he worked on it for the rest of his life. It was completed posthumously in 1614. The reconstructed building was called a basilica by Palladio himself, who had been inspired by the model of the Roman basilica for civic use. The building has three independent exhibition spaces that are used to host architecture and art exhibitions of international renown.

The Palazzo Chiericati has been the historic home of the Civic Museum since 1855 and now houses the city's collections of paintings, sculptures and applied arts from the thirteenth to the twentieth centuries. A masterpiece of Palladio's early maturity (1550), the building not only has decorations from that period but also holds important documents on Vicenza's art history. The Museum of Palazzo Chiericati reopened the Palladian wing on December 2013, after the restoration works. On the main floor, the visitor can enjoy the works of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, contemporary to the construction of the building. The attic hosts the Bequest of Marquis Giuseppe Roi: his personal collection of paintings, drawings and engravings from the fifteenth to the twentieth century, set in a charming display of house-museum. On the ground floor the visitor can admire, in a temporary exhibition, a selection of masterpieces of the collection not currently on display: Paolo Veneziano, Memling, Montagna, Fogolino, Sansovino, Tintoretto, Maffei and Pittoni. In the basement are located the works donated to the museum by the sculptor Nereo Quagliato.

Venetian villa with superb frescoes of the most important Venetian painters of 18th century: Giambattista and Giandomenico Tiepolo. Still owned and inhabited by the Valmarana family, who bought it back in 1720. Open to the public for visits 7 days a week and available for events such as weddings, conferences, gala dinners, photo shooting, business presentations, concerts, representations, etc

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.

“Maybe never architectural art has reached such a level of magnificence” (J. W. Goethe, after the visit at La Rotonda) La Rotonda is not a villa. It’s something more. In time it has been visited by poets and artists, sovereigns and statesmen, scholars and art amateurs, travellers and tourists. To everyone La Rotonda has given an unforgettable emotion, that sense of harmony and grace whose answer is a smile, a silence. After 500 years, La Rotonda today is still a place of pure beauty, waiting to give inspiration, culture, joy.

a museum-workshop: this new kind of museum features not only works of art but also the experts who describe them.a museum in movement: having installed the hardware (a system of dynamic lighting for the spaces, video projection systems, showcases, etc), each year the software will change, i.e. the contents, according to the state of progress in studies and research.a marvellous building: one of Palladio's finest palaces and the only one that he saw completed both as regards the architecture and decorations (causing the ruin of the patron, Montano Barbarano).an intellectual challenge: to take specialist knowledge out of the ivory tower and communicate it to a wider public in the museum and on the web.a far from impossible mission: recounting architecture to non-architects, not as a history of buildings but of the people who designed, built and communicated them; and showcasing architectural drawings, the tools that body forth ideas, alongside models, photographs and videos.the beginning of a journey: to explore Palladio's buildings in Vicenza (associated with the Palladio Museum thanks to the combined ticket "Vicenza città bellissima") and his villas in the Veneto countryside.a crossroads: a place where institutions and scholars from various parts of the world work together and present joint projects.