Venice & the Veneto - Italy - page 759

Sleeping

8 Hotel Palladio C2

9 Ostello Olimpico D1

10 Relais Santa Corona C1

Eating

11 Al Bersagliere C2

12 Antico Ristorante agli Schioppi A3

13 Gastronomia Il Ceppo C2

14 Julien D2

Drinking & Nightlife

15 Osteria al Campanile B3

16 Pasticceria Sorarù C2

Sights

The heart of historic Vicenza is Piazza dei Signori , where Palladio lightens the mood of
government buildings with his trademark play of light and shadow. Dazzling white
Piovene stone arches frame shady double arcades in the Basilica Palladiana while, across
the piazza, white stone and stucco grace the exposed red brick colonnade of the
1571-designed Loggia del Capitaniato OFFLINE MAP GOOGLE MAP .
Two of Palladio's most extraordinary villas, La Rotonda and Villa Valmarana 'Ai Nani',
lie a 20-minute walk south of the train station. Or you can catch local bus 8 (€1.50) in
front of the station.

Basilica Palladiana
( 0444 22 21 14; Piazza dei Signori; temporary exhibtions €9-12) The Palladian Basilica domin-
ates the Piazza dei Signori, its enormous copper dome reminiscent of the hull of an up-
turned ship. Palladio himself called this city hall a 'basilica', modelled as it was on Ro-
man structures that had inspired him. He was lucky to secure the commission in 1549 (it
took his patron 50 years of lobbying the council), which involved radically restructuring
the original, 15th-century palazzo and adding an ambitious double order of loggias.

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