Castelfranco Veneto & Cittadella (01/05/2019)

After being back in Vicenza, I decided to do a day trip on the 1st of May holiday. So after an early wake up, I took the regional train and reached the first town of the day, Castelfranco Veneto. After getting out of the train station I headed towards the Villa Bolasco, located eat of the old town. A Venetian villa, it dates from between the 16th and 19th centuries. Originally, in fact, a group of buildings dating to the 16th and 17th centuries used to be located there, and the count Francesco Revedin rebuilt it at the end of the 19th century by adding a large English-style garden around the villa. After buying the entry ticket, I walked along the path and reached a large circular area lined by 17th-century statues which used to belong to the villa's early period. That area once used to serve as a horse-riding arena for the villa's owner. After walking around the large central pond sided by nice types of plants and trees. Then I passed by a Moorish revival styled building which serves as a glasshouse for plants and finally circled back to the entrance of the park. After exiting I then headed towards the city center and reached the eastern part where I could notice the red brick medieval walls which completely encircle the old town. The eastern part is also characterized by the Civic tower, an elegant structure dating between the 12th and 13th century like the rest of the walls. It was then elevated to its current height of 43m during the 14th century when a clock and the lion of st mark, due to having fallen under Venetian dominance, were added. After passing under the gate, I walked through the elegant architecture and reached the central Piazza San Liberale, flanked by the cathedral at its eastern end. I decided though to enter the Museo Casa Giorgione first, a 14th-century townhouse which is said to have been where the artist Giorgione used to live. After seeing the nice display among the house's decorated rooms, I headed right in front of the building where the Cathedral was located. The church itself, built in a Neoclassical style during the 18th century didn't possess anything particularly noteworthy apart from a very famous painting, by Giorgione itself, located in the Costanzo chapel. Known as the Pala di Castelfranco, it dates to 1504 and was commissioned by the condottiero Tuzio Costanzo for his son's death during a military campaign. It represents the Madonna on the throne holding the baby Jesus above the sarcophagus of the Costanzo family and with St Francis and St Nicasius on either side. After admiring the beautiful painting I then headed back out and through the southern walls where I followed a path alongside the moat and with a nice view of the walls. I circled around and then went back into the old town where I decided to have a quick lunch at a small osteria where I took a few Cicchetti, or small dishes, to eat. After that, I went back out of the city center and started walking westwards in the direction of Cittadella. I passed by the Villa Chiminelli, right outside the town limits, but found out it was closed so continued on. The weather was perfect and the sky was extremely clear, as I walked through the fields I could admire the mountains ranges to the north, which, due to the previous rainy days had meant the peaks and tops were still covered in snow. Passing through some rather bland towns I then reached Cittadella a few hours later. I had been there before but decided to visit the walls which I hadn't seen in ages and admire the view of the mountains from an even better perspective. As I reached the ticket office, located on the northern part of the walls, I found out there was already a long line, due to it being a holiday. I managed to get in after a few minutes and then started my walk on top of the walls counterclockwise. Built during the 13th century, the walls have a diameter of 450 meters and a total of 1461 meters in circumference. They are some of the best-preserved in Europe with just a tiny breach at the northwestern part which they fixed by building a wooden structure. Nonetheless, they are impressive to look at and grant an amazing view of the old town and the surrounding landscape from their 16 meters of height. After going around the whole perimeter I quickly walked through the town once more and reached the train station just in time to take my ride back to Vicenza.

The 17th century statues at the horse riding arena of Villa Bolasco

The Neo Mooresque glasshouse and the Villa Bolasco in the background

The english style garden of the Villa Bolasco

The walls of Castelfranco Veneto

The Civic Tower of Castelfranco Veneto

  

The Pala di Castelfranco by Giorgione

     

The town's main square and the Civic Tower

Castelfranco's walls

The southern gate of Cittadella       

View of the old town and the mountains in the background from the top of the walls

The impressive medieval walls

Třebíč, Telč & Jihlava (15/09/2018)

After attending Ania's master defense in Krakow, I decided to visit my brother who had recently started working in Prague. After seeing Ania to the bus station in Krakow, headed to Hamburg, I took a bus in the direction of Brno. As expected my bus was late, and even though I had two hours time to catch my transfer, I was barely able to run from the bus station to the train station once in Brno and manage just in time to catch the last train to Třebíč. After a late arrival, I headed to the accommodation which was a room right above a bar in a not so busy street. The funny thing was the owner, both of the bar and the rooms upstairs was already drunk and fumbled to show me the keys and the place and then going back to serving and drinking with the locals in the bar downstairs. Luckily, the sound was not hearable and nonetheless stopped completely after a while. The following morning, after a good night sleep I left the place and headed out to explore the town. I had chosen it because its Jewish neighborhood and its basilica are inscribed in the Unesco list. So as I headed towards the city center, I first reached a nearby hill where an observation deck granting a great view of the old town. The weather was not the best and several clouds had decided to cover up most of the sky, but that didn't demoralize me from continuing on. From there I walked downhill and reached the aforementioned Jewish neighborhood which comprises a large part of the old town and set on the northern bank of the Jihlava river. As most Jewish areas in Europe, it was set apart from the rest of the city and usually enclosed by a wall which would be closed from dusk till dawn. Specifically, this one is considered as one of the best preserved in Europe having survived quite unscathed throughout history, particularly during the violence of World War 2. Sadly as it went with other places, of the original Jewish inhabitants who were deported to concentration camps only about ten made it back to their houses. As I walked through the old streets I admired the nice architecture and the synagogue which once served the local community and is now a museum. Then continuing on, I reached the other site included in the Unesco list, the Basilica of St Procopius. Originally built during the 13th century and dedicated to the Assumption of the Virgin Mary, it was dedicated to its current saint just in the 18th century. As I approached the monument, I first walked under a nice Baroque gate which marks the entrance to the city's castle to which the basilica is annexed. As I entered the premises I was able to admire the whole structure of the church. Despite the facade and bell towers having been reconstructed in the Baroque form, the rest of the church presented its beautiful original Romanesque/Gothic structure. In fact, as I visited its interior, I marveled at the huge main nave and the elegant arches leading up to the vaulted dome. One of the side chapels also contained some well-preserved traces of medieval frescoes representing religious scenes. After visiting the interior, I then headed out and made a circle of the structure, passing through a nice botanical garden set behind the church's apse. As I still had time to spare and it was not too far of a walk I decided to head out of the town and see the Jewish cemetery. Once I reached the place, the gate was unlocked so I decided to head and walk among the graves of a once large community that inhabited the city. It was well maintained which meant that, despite the change of community, those who had died were not forgotten. Then, once back in the old town, I walked through the core of the city, represented by the Karlovo Namesti, the main square. At its southwestern end, I passed by a nicely painted house and then slightly uphill reached the church of St Martin with a nice Baroque interior. At that point, I directed myself to the bus station from where I took a ride to the next town: Telč. As I reached the destination I immediately headed towards the old town which was located close by. Founded in the 13th century as a royal water fort on busy merchant routes it is in fact sided to the north and south by two lakes. It is also a Unesco world heritage site since 1992 due to its impressive old town. As I approached, in fact, I entered the immense main square, which occupies nearly the whole city center, and marveled at the perimeter beautifully lined with multicolor Renaissance and Baroque houses with high gables and arcades. At the center, a plague column and a nice fountain dating to the 17th century give an elegant addition. As I continued on, the triangular shaped square, started to slowly get tighter until it became a larger street. As I admired the beautiful facade of the houses I then reached the church of the Name of Jesus built in the Baroque style. Right next to it was the castle, the city's main attraction. Built over a pre-existing Gothic structure, the present one dates to the 17th century. After entering the premises I decided to skip the visit to the museum, as that would take long, and instead visit the parts open to the public. First the chapel with a beautiful stucco decoration from the 16th century and the tomb of Zacharias of Hradec, ruler of the city, and his wife at the center.  Then through the courtyard, I admired the clearly Italian influenced architecture which was in fact commissioned to artists coming from Italy. A small garden then opened up behind the chapel's apse and was surrounded by more arcaded buildings. After the visit to the complex, I then exited through the walls and visited the English landscape park which was set out at the time of the Renaissance castle. After walking around the castle perimeter I entered once again the old town and visited the church of St James, located right next to the palace complex and featuring a nice gothic interior. Further on I crossed a bridge across the southern lake and admired the old town from a nice viewpoint. There was a bit of sun shining through the clouds which made the sight even more impressive. It was then time to head back to the train station and catch a ride to the final town: Jihlava. As I reached the destination, I headed into the city center which I reached in no time. The main square, known as Masarykovo Namesti, was the core of it all, surrounded by old buildings and with two fountains, one of Neptune and one of his wife Amphitrite.  There were a lot of people around and a stage had been set up for a kind of festival. As I headed out of the square I reached the large church of St James the Greater with a nice Gothic exterior. It was unfortunately closed by a glass door enabled visitors to peek inside and admire the Baroque interior. Right behind it, a path led on top of the city's fortifications; I followed it all the way around and reached the western end of town. Here, a nice street lined with old buildings was characterized by the only surviving city gate, the Gate of the Holy Mother. From there I headed back to the main square where even more people had gathered as some pavilions were set up hosting street food from all over the area. I tried some Slovak specialties including Bryndzové halušky, potato dumplings with sheep's milk cheese. After eating, I hung out on the square for a little bit and then headed towards the bus station stopping on the way to admire the nice Baroque church of the Holy Spirit. From there I finally took the final ride to Prague where I met up with my brother.

View of Trebice

One of the streets in the Jewish neighborhood

The catle's baroque gate

The portal of the Basilica of St Procopius

Interior of St Procopius

The facade of the St Procopius

The Jewish cemetery

The beautiful Renaissance houses in Telc

The main square in Telc

More houses

Inner courtyard of the castle

The castle chapel

View of Telc from across the southern lake

The main square in Jihlava

The church of St James the Greater

Walking along the walls

The gate of the Holy Mother

One of the streets in the old town

Montagnana (31/03/2015)

I had come back to Italy for the easter break so I decided to do a little sightseeing back home. I left Vicenza, my hometown, with my brother at around 9:30 to see the walled town of Montagnana in the Province of Padova. Once we reached the destination, we parked the car just outside the northern entrance of the town, the Porta Nuova or Porta Vicenza, signalling the direction towards Vicenza. We entered the town through there and started walking toward the main square: Piazza Vittorio Emanuele II. Right in the middle of the square is located the Duomo, built in the 15th century, in a late Gothic style, with several interesting chapel and paintings such as the Transfiguration by Paolo Veronese. round and facing the square are also the Palazzo Valeri and the Monte di Pietá, a sort of pawn shop of the medieval era. We then headed east, walking along the northern wall until we reached the castle of San Zeno, built in the 13th century, which guards the eastern entrance and the road towards Padova. Right outside lies the Villa Pisani, a Unesco site because built by Palladio; it is unfortunately pivate so not accessible. We headed back into town and passed by a few palaces such as the Magnavin-Foratti Palace and the Town Hall, built by famous architect Sanmichieli in the 16th century. We then went back out of the town through a small opening in the southern walls; we reached the Sant Antonio Abate church which was closed, and then went back inside through the same opening, after having seen a beautiful view of the long southern perimeter wall. We walked further on and stopped in front of San Francesco church, which was unfortunately closed too, we eventually reached the western part of town. We passed by the XX September gate, and the western entrance to the city, the Rocca degli Alberi built in the 14th century guarding the way to Verona. After walking some more around town, we decided it was time to head back home to have lunch, so we went back towards the parking lot. On the way back we made a brief stop to see the splendid Villa Barbarigo in the town of Noventa Vicentina, built in the 16th century it is now the town hall. We then eventually got back home around 2:30 in time for lunch.

The Northern walls

The Duomo

Inside of the Duomo

One of the Chapels

The main square

A street along the walls

The Castle of S Zeno

The Western walls

The Southern walls