We have been meaning to visit Vicenza for a long time and finally got around to it yesterday, catching the train from Venezia.
It is a lovely place and the comune is obviously wealthy as all of the public buildings and infrastructure are very well maintained.
We spent ages wandering around looking at the buildings by Palladio, had a great coffee and then visited the Teatro Olimpico. This theatre was built in the 1550s and is the oldest surviving renaissance theatre with a covered roof (check the link for further info).
The theatre is absolutely beautiful and is a combination of work by Palladio and Scamorzzi. The theatre is amazing and has incredibly beautiful original painted wooden sets which create an optical illusion because they are constructed and painted using trompe l'oeil technique.
We sat in the theatre for ages and are so glad that we went. We only knew about the theatre because we had seen it in an art history program.
The central 'street' of the set is 12 metres long, but it seems much longer. The street is sloped and is higher and much narrower at the back. The walls of the buildings are lower at the back and overall it looks like a long street lined by tall buildings. One of the staff kindly demonstrated the differences in width and height so that people could have a better understanding of how the sets work.
If you are interested, the The History of Theatre on youtube has quite a good explanation of the workings of the theatre.
Vicenza virtually closes down between 12 and 3.00pm and so we weren't able to see all of the places that we had wanted to. We did get to visit the Palladio museum after lunch and saw the drawings and models of many of his most famous buildings.
Definitely worth a return visit, maybe next time by car so that we can explore a bit more.
It is a lovely place and the comune is obviously wealthy as all of the public buildings and infrastructure are very well maintained.
Market day at Piazza dei Signori overlooked by Basilica Palladiana
The Basilica once the crowds have gone
We spent ages wandering around looking at the buildings by Palladio, had a great coffee and then visited the Teatro Olimpico. This theatre was built in the 1550s and is the oldest surviving renaissance theatre with a covered roof (check the link for further info).
The theatre is absolutely beautiful and is a combination of work by Palladio and Scamorzzi. The theatre is amazing and has incredibly beautiful original painted wooden sets which create an optical illusion because they are constructed and painted using trompe l'oeil technique.
We sat in the theatre for ages and are so glad that we went. We only knew about the theatre because we had seen it in an art history program.
The original wooded seating is like an indoor Roman amphitheatre
The central 'street' of the set is 12 metres long, but it seems much longer. The street is sloped and is higher and much narrower at the back. The walls of the buildings are lower at the back and overall it looks like a long street lined by tall buildings. One of the staff kindly demonstrated the differences in width and height so that people could have a better understanding of how the sets work.
If you are interested, the The History of Theatre on youtube has quite a good explanation of the workings of the theatre.
Vicenza virtually closes down between 12 and 3.00pm and so we weren't able to see all of the places that we had wanted to. We did get to visit the Palladio museum after lunch and saw the drawings and models of many of his most famous buildings.
We had an enjoyable lunch in the sunshine at Caffè Garibaldi in Piazza dei Signori.
Le signore hanno fatto una bella chiacchierata
A relaxing place to go for a walk with your dog
Definitely worth a return visit, maybe next time by car so that we can explore a bit more.
