Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Inside the awesome, 52m hall was where the Council of Four Hundred met. Now, after
an extensive five-year restoration, it hosts internationally important temporary exhibitions.
It's closed to the public when there are no exhibitions on.
Gallerie di Palazzo
Leoni Montanari
MUSEUM
( 800 578875;
www.gallerieditalia.com
;
Contrà di Santa Corona 25; adult/reduced €5/4; 10am-6pm
Tue-Sun)
From the outside it looks like a bank, but a treasure beyond accountants' imagin-
ing awaits inside the Palazzo Leoni Montanari. Ascend past the nymphs along the extra-
vagant stuccoed staircase to grand salons filled with Canaletto's misty lagoon landscapes
and Pietro Longhi's 18th-century satires. Head upstairs to see Banca Intesa's superb col-
lection of 400 Russian icons, gorgeously spotlit in darkened galleries in which recordings
of soft Gregorian chants set the scene.
Chiesa di Santa Corona
CHURCH
( 0444 22 28 11; Contrà di Santa Corona; 9am-noon & 3-6pm Tue-Sun)
Built by the
Dominicans in 1261 to house a relic from Christ's crown of thorns donated to the bishop
of Vicenza by Louis IX of France, this Romanesque church also houses three light-filled
masterpieces: Palladio's 1576 Valmarana Chapel in the crypt; Paolo Veronese's
Adoration
of the Magi,
much praised by Goethe; and Giovanni Bellini's radiant
Baptism of Christ,
where the holy event is witnessed by a trio of Veneto beauties and a curious red bird.
Teatro Olimpico
( 0444 22 28 00;
www.olimpicovicenza.it
;
Piazza Matteotti 11; adult/reduced incl Museo Civico €10/8;
9am-5pm Tue-Sun)
Behind a charming walled garden lies a Renaissance marvel: the
Teatro Olimpico, which Palladio began in 1580 with inspiration from Roman amphi-
theatres. Vincenzo Scamozzi finished the elliptical theatre after Palladio's death, adding a
stage set modelled on the ancient Greek city of Thebes, with streets built in steep per-
spective to give the illusion of a city sprawling towards a distant horizon.
Today, Italian performers vie to make an entrance on this gem of a stage; check the
website for opera, classical and jazz performances.
THEATRE
Museo Civico
MUSEUM
