
After reading the reviews for this whs I realized that most of them are quite old or short.Thats why I ve decided to write a review about this easily accessible whs.
I visited Vicenca on sunday, november the 12th and monday morning, November the 13th.
I had read quite a lot about this whs before I visited Vicenza and I had also marked all of Palladio's villas in the off-line map "maps.me" with different colors depending on priority.
I arrived around 10.00 a.m in Vicenza and headed straight for the Palladian Basilica in the city centre. Since I knew that I was in a race against time I didnt intend to spend too much time visiting the villas closed to the public. I had pre-booked a guided tour at the "La Rotunda",Palladio''s masterpiece,at exactly 15.30. And on mondays almost all of the palladian places open to the public are closed.
I stayed more or less 20 minutes at the palladian basilica where I had bought a combi ticket(18€) for the following sites:the galleries of palazzo Thiene,the palladian basilica,the church of santa corona,the civic art gallery of palazzo Chiericate,the olympic theatre,the palladio museum+some other places like the natural history museum or the diocesan museum which were not part of the Vicenza whs so that I skipped them.I then visited Vicenza' cathedral Santa Maria Annuciata which is just a stone's throw away from the palladian basilica.I stayed there around 15-20 min. Then I went to the olympic teatre which turned out to be a real treasure and hands down the most impressive palladian place within the city centre.After around 20-25 min I visited the nearby palazzo Chiericati where I also stayed for around 25-30 min.The exhibition there didnt impress me very much...to be honest.
I then visited the nearby Church Santa Corona, a true pleasure for my eyes. After that visit I strongly needed a coffee break. I had a short break of 10 min to have on and visited then the galleries of palazzo thiene. Unlike the exhibition in the palazzo Chiericati I found the exposition inside the galleries quite fascinating and interesting. I spent around 1 h there. At that time I was quite tired,both mentally and physically.Nevertheless I fought my inner displeasure and my aching feet and continued on my way to the palazzo Schio where I had a quick look inside the yard.Then I visited the palazzos Barbaran and Porto...both closed to the public.Last but by far not least I made it to the palladio museum.Unfortunately,at that time my feet were getting more and more unhappy with my chosen route through Vicenza without a refreshing break.Therefore I stayed inside the palladio museum only around 20 min,far too short,but at that time I was just too tired to appreciate the vast amount of infos and exhibits the museum offers to its visitors.I then had to rush to my hotel to check-in and leave my baggage there. I then had to walk around 25-30 min from my hotel to the villa " La Rotunda" where my guided tour was scheduled at exactly 15.30. I first visited the nearby villa ai Nani.Pure madness to spent only around 10 min inside that villa but I was running out of time. I made it just in time for the guided tour. Anyway! Like a tired boxer in the later rounds I got a second wind and new energy. The guided tour costs 15€ and is really worth the spend fee,quite informative.At the end of that day my phone's pedometer showed me more than 35.000 walked steps.That sunday was truly a tough day both for my feet as well as for my capacity to absorb such a big amount of info. And on the way back to my hotel I had a short look at the arco delle scalette(designed by palladio) which was the only point of access from the city to the sanctuary of Monte Berico.
The following day,monday the 13th,I had time till 14.00 which I used to visit almost all of the palladian villas closed to the public like the palazzo del Capitaniato or the palazzo Pojano.Most of them were totally closed to the public....some of them allowed a quick glance inside their yards into the buildings' heart.The loggia Valmarana was the most interesting palladian place of them.
All of the palladian places open to the public are closed on mondays.....most of them are open from tuesday to sunday from either 9.00 or 10.00 in the morning till 18.00( the olympic teatre closes its gates at 17.00. Be aware that most sites wont allow visitors inside their buildings 30 minutes before closing time.
Palladio's masterpiece,the Villa La Rotunda,was without a doubt my personal highlight in Vicenza. I learnt a lot of about architecture and Palladio. Vicenza is a great whs which truly enriches the inner soul of every open-minded human being,but visitors should be warned that their feet will suffer a lot from the enormous amount of walking a visitor has to do in order to see and pay tribute to all the palladian sites in that peaceful and pleasant italian city.
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