Europe's largest producer of
textiles and the focus of Italy's
"Silicon Valley",
VICENZA
is a very sleek city, where it can
seem that every second car is a BMW.
Modern prosperity hasn't ruined the
look of Vicenza, though. The centre
of the city, still partly enclosed
by medieval walls, is an amalgam of
Gothic and Classical buildings that
today looks much as it did when the
last major phase of construction
came to an end at the close of the
eighteenth century. This historic
core is compact enough to be
explored in a day, but the city and
its environs really require a short
stay to do them justice.
In 1404 Vicenza was absorbed by
Venice, and the city's numerous
Gothic palaces reflect its status as
a Venetian satellite. But in the
latter half of the sixteenth century
the city was transformed by the work
of an architect who owed nothing to
Venice and whose rigorous but
flexible style was to influence
every succeeding generation - Andrea
di Pietro della Gondola, alias
Palladio.
The City
of Vicenza
The main street of Vicenza, the
Corso Andrea Palladio , cuts right
through the old centre from the
Piazza del Castello down to the
Piazza Matteotti, and is lined with
palaces, all of them now occupied by
shops, offices and banks. Palladio's...
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