Tom`s travels: Asolo (03/01/2015)

We left Vicenza, my brother and I, at around 10am and reached Asolo 40 minutes later. We parked the car at the parking lot in the middle of the town and began the visit on foot. First thing we saw was the town's main square: the beautiful Piazza Garibaldi, with many palaces overlooking it, such as the Villa Scotti Pasini. Really impressive is the 16th century fountain located at the center of the square, with the Venetian lion of st mark. Close by is the Palazzo della Ragione with Renaissance frescoes depicting battles and now the civic museum which was unfortunately closed on Saturdays. We then headed inside the Duomo, built around the 18th century, it now holds a copy of the famous Assumption of the Virgin by Titian. We then walked on and reached the Castle, that after several owners also became the residence of Caterina Cornaro, Queen of Cyprus. From there the view over the town and surrounding hills is amazing, and Mount Grappa can be seen not too far. Further ahead we passed by Palazzo Beltramini, now the Town Hall, and then under Casa Duse, a 16th century palace, that used to be the place where Eleonora Duse, famous actress from the beginning of the 20th century, used to live. Continuing on we passed by some interesting houses, called the Hansa houses since they were built in the 19th century to look like northern european. We then stopped and went inside the church of St Catherine with frescoes from the 16th century. We passed by the beautiful Villa de Mattia with an amazing italian garden and then the Lombard House, called like this because of a misinterpretation of the inscription on the door, which is actually a part of a 16th century palace. We finally reached the cemetery that contains the tombs of the many important figures that used to reside and had died here in Asolo, and right beside it was the Villa Contarini degli Armeni a beautiful but private villa. Walking back into town we stopped at Corte del Re, a really small Osteria where we tried the local food: polenta with various cuts of ham, very tasty! We then headed uphill passing by the church of St Peter and Paul and then taking the narrow street leading up to the small fortress located on the highest point of the town. Entrance was 2 euros but the view from up there was really great, with the surrounding hills and mountains and the town down below. Walking back down into town we took another path and passed by the church of St Gotthard, partially ruined; and eventually came back to the parking lot ending our trip for that day.