Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Head upstairs to see Banca Intesa's superb collection of some 400 Russian icons, gor-
geously spot lit in darkened galleries in which recordings of soft Gregorian chants set the
scene. Such a collection is rare anywhere outside Russia.
CHIESA DI SANTA CORONA
( 0444 22 28 11; Contrà di Santa Corona; 9am-noon & 3-6pm Tue-Sun)
F
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 master-
pieces: 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.
CHURCH
TEATRO OLIMPICO
MAP
THEATRE
GOOGLE MAP
( 0444 22 28 00;
http://olimpicovicenza.it
; Palazzo 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 amphitheatres. Vin-
cenzo 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 perspective to
give the illusion of a city sprawling towards a distant horizon.
The theatre was inaugurated in 1585 with a performance of
Oedipus Rex
but soon fell
into disuse. Eventually the ceiling caved in, and the theatre remained abandoned for cen-
turies until it was finally restored in 1934. Today, Italian performers vie to make an en-
trance on this gem of a stage; check online for opera, classical and jazz performances.
MUSEO CIVICO
MAP
MUSEUM
GOOGLE MAP
(Palazzo Chiericati; 0444 22 28 11;
www.museicivicivicenza.it
; Piazza Matteotti 37/39; adult/reduced incl Teatro
Olimpico €10/8; 9am-5pm Tue-Sun)
This civic art museum is housed in one of Palladio's finest
buildings, designed in 1550 with a colonnaded ground floor and double-height loggia. The
frescoed ground floor includes the ultimate baroque party room: the
Sala dal Firmamento
(Salon of the Skies), with Domenico Brusasorci's ceiling fresco of Diana, the moon god-
dess, galloping across the sky to meet a bare-arsed Helios, god of the Sun.
Upstairs galleries present works by Vi-cenza masters in the context of a handful of ma-
jor works by Venetian masters such as Veronese, Tiepolo and Tintoretto. Also look out for
Hans Memling's minutely detailed Crucifix, action-packed works by Jacopo Bassano, and
