Today, I got even more lost than I’ve been so far! But I’ll start from the beginning. I slept in today until 9 since I didn’t have to take a train anywhere. I lounged around the apartment with Maria for a bit and finally finished my book (Storm of Swords, onto A Feast for Crows when I get internet to buy it…).
Maria let me borrow her bike and explained to me how to get to the center of town. I literally only had to find the bike path and take that straight into the city center. Of course, I took a wrong turn and ended up going the wrong direction for a few minutes until I stopped and asked where I was. It’s been forever since I was on a bike and I was quite enjoying my ride despite being lost. I found the path and was on my way—the right way—once more.
I knew I was heading the right way when I came upon La Rotonda which I remembered seeing yesterday on our drive home. It’s an awesome site on the hill and Maria said the architecture of the white house was based on this villa.
Once the bike path ended, I more or less aimlessly biked around trying to find the actual center and something I recognized. I’m not sure, but I ended up across from the bridge we were at yesterday (Ponte San Michele) so I was able to take a picture of it.
Now I kind of knew where I was. At least I knew more where I was than I had so far today. I headed towards the main street, Corso Palladio and passed the basilica on the way. During World War II, Vicenza was pretty hard with bombing so a lot of things have been rebuilt or are still in the process of being renovated. The basilica has been rebuilt, but is still under construction right now.
I found Corso Palladio and turned in the direction of Teatro Olimpico. Teatro Olimpico is the oldest indoor theatre throughout Europe and is certainly a site to see. Below is the stage area set up with a really cool set that is completely built but fades into the back.
Flash wasn’t allowed so I couldn’t get any good pictures of the detail in each hallway, but this one isn’t too bad:
Lining the seating area were marble statues and the ceiling was painted to look like the sky. The seating is all wood benches that look down upon the stage. It was a very cool little theatre.
Right across from the Teatro Olimpico is the Palazzo Chiericati which houses the Civic Museum of Vicenza. I went inside and saw more awesome artwork. My stomach was growling so I went in search of a place for lunch. I found Bar Italia and tried a cotto and mozzarella panini. Cotto is cooked ham and Christine had warned me that she thought it was gross, but I thought I’d try it anyway. I can now say that I agree with Christine. The sandwich wasn’t horrible, but the texture of cotto is really strange. I enjoyed the mozzarella much more.
With a full stomach, I found my way to another archeology museum that wasn’t too exciting but had a pretty awesome skeleton on display.
Mostly I just enjoyed the scenery while walking around. I called it a day around 3 o’clock, found my bike and headed back towards the apartment. A lot of the path is away from the road and I passed a farm with a scarecrow. I don’t think I’ve ever seen a real scarecrow in action so I took a picture. There weren’t any crows around so I suppose it’s serving its purpose.
Back at the apartment I rested, reading and dozing off for a bit. A little later, Maria and I went to the Museo del Risorgimento e della Resistenza which is a museum that commemorates the people who died in wars. It was later in the day so the museum was closed but we walked around the grounds. We walked past a bush and Maria got really excited saying she’d just found our dinner. The bush had a wild herb called buscandoli growing in it. She said you can make a great cream sauce out of it to pour over pasta, so we plucked some.
We continued up a very winding road to the Basilica di Monte Bérico. Legend has it that during the bubonic plague the Virgin appeared twice on the summit of Monte Bérico and promised salvation from the plague if the people built a basilica there. So they did, and the plague ended. The basilica that is currently there is newer than the original, but parts of the original were incorporated into the new one.
We walked in and there was mass going on, so we quietly wended our way through the people to see the church itself. It’s absolutely gorgeous inside. There are colored lights hanging from the ceiling and of course, everything is painted.
Outside the basilica is a lookout point where you can see Vicenza. The view is incredible. The building in the middle with green roof is the basilica in the city center.
Our last stop on the tour was the Villa Vamarana “ai Nani”. Nani is dwarf in Italian and the Villa has that nickname because the walls are lined with sculptures of dwarves.
Maria told me another legend that says that Valmarana had a daughter who was born a dwarf and in order to make her feel normal they filled the house with dwarf-like paintings and sculptures. She never knew she was different until she met a normal-sized the man. Grief overtook her and she jumped off a balcony committing suicide.
After the villa we found another place with buscandoli and picked more because one of Maria’s friends and his girlfriend were going to join us for dinner. I also finally went into a grocery store. Everything seems much more cheaply priced than in America. A lot of things were 99 euros or less. I don’t know if that’s typical or if we went to a cheaper grocery store or if that’s just Vicenza, but it would be nice to have such a low grocery bill!
We returned to the apartment and Maria started dinner. She made bruschetta topped with homemade sauce made from vegetables in her parent’s garden and mozzarella cheese. While preparing it she gave me some mozzarella to eat. It’s so good raw and much less salty here. She cut up the herbs and started them cooking for the sauce.
Her friend Lucca and his girlfriend Christina arrived with fresh cranberries in tow. I’ve never had fresh cranberries and they were quite delicious. Lucca was very funny, Christina very quiet. Dinner was very good and very filling. After we finished eating we moved to the couch but I was so tired I could barely hold my eyes open so I went to take a nap. I heard a few other of Maria’s friends come in and then I was out. I slept through most of the fun, but I did hear a chorus of the Duloch song from Shrek, but sung in Italian. It was interesting.
Tomorrow we’re might go to Treviso or Padova or something else. We’ll decide in the morning. Monday I’m off to Venezia!
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