scubish.com: Scuba diving Vicenza - Italy

Vicenza is a city located in North Eastern Italy. The city and the surrounding countryside and hills are particularly famous for the many works, and particularly the Villas, by Palladio. Because of the architectonic contributions of Andrea Palladio, it was included in UNESCO's list of world heritage places in 1994.

Understand

Vicenza is an ancient city. In 157 b.D. it entered into the roman empire with the name Vicetia or Vincentia. In 889 it was destroyed by Ungari, and in 1001 it became an episcopal stronghold. In 1404 it became part of the Republic of Venice.

The XVI century was very important for Vicenza because Andrea Palladio built several villas and palaces. During the XIX century, after the fall of Napoleone, the city was taken by Austria, but in 1848 the citizens rebelled against the austrian government and in 1866 it finally became part of the Kingdom of Italy.

Get in

There are two ways to arrive to Vicenza. One is by car, the other is by train.

By train

The railstation of Vicenza is on the line connecting Milano (Milan) to Venezia (Venice).

All kind of trains pass through Vicenza: Eurostar, InterCity, EuroCity, InterRegionale, Regionale, InterCityNight, EuroNight, Espresso. More info on Trenitalia .

A 50 minute ride from Venice.

By car

Padova is connected through the national highway network

A4 - Torino-Milano-Venezia-Trieste

A31 - Vicenza-Piovene Rocchette

By bus

Vicenza is connected to other cities with a bus servirce offered by Ferrovie Tramvie Vicentine . It is a less comfortable service than train, but it can reach several places that don't have a railstation.

See

Landmarks

Basilica Palladiana is a massive structure on one of the main squares, designed by the architect Palladio, who seems to have been responsible for many of the famous buildings in and around Vicenza. It still has the old clock tower from a previous building on that site.

Teatro Olimpico on Piazza Matteotti is another of the many buildings in Vicenza and its surroundings designed by Palladio (dating from the 1580s). It's a wooden theatre, with the audience arranged in a compact half-circle, most noted for its use of perspective to give the impression of a very deep stage. It can be visited for itself, or supposedly is still used for some performances.

Museums

Palazzo Chiericati, opposite the Teatro Olimpico, is home to the Museo Civico. It has a collection of paintings, most from northern Italy with some from further afield. The main collection requires a ticket, but some other rooms are free to visit (at least, were during an April 2007 visit). In the freely-accessible section, there's an amusingly unusual ceiling painting - people and animals are painted from the 'natural' perspective.

Eat

People from Vicenza are often teased because of the recipe of the Roast Cat (Gato Ala Visentina). Although it isn't prepared any more, this recipe still remains in the memory of people as a sign of the bad times when people could hardly survive. So don't be scared because of it, consider it just a joke and don't mind if they tell you that cats and...