The Rough Guide to Venice and the Veneto

Bèrico; the downside is that it’s half an
hour’s walk from the centre. 1
Castello Contrà Piazza del Castello 24
t0444.323.585, wwww.hotelcastelloitaly.com.
The three-star Castello is well positioned
just off Piazza Castello, and has a pleasant
breakfast terrace. 2–3
Due Mori Contrà Do Rode 26
t0444.321.886, wwww.hotelduemori.
com. Graceful and friendly two-star right by
the Piazza dei Signori. Its capacious rooms
have beautiful Liberty-style furniture. 1
Giardini Viale Giuriolo 10 t0444.326.458.
wwww.hotelgiardini.com. This modern threestar
at the southern end of Piazza Matteotti
has comfortable air-conditioned rooms – go
for the quieter ones at the back. 2–3
Hostel and campsite
Olimpico youth hostel Viale Giuriolo
7–9 t0444.540.222, wwww.ostellionline.org,
eostello.vicenza@tin.it. Vicenza’s spruce
youth hostel is well placed just off Piazza
Matteotti. A bed in a dorm room costs
e16, in a double e17, and in a single e20;
there’s Internet access and bike hire as well.
Reception opens 3.30pm.
Camping Vicenza Strada Pelosa 239,
t0444.582.311. Upmarket camping off
the Vicenza Est exit of the Milan-Venice
motorway; accessible by regular bus #1
from Vicenza. From e14.80 for one person,
one tent. Closed Oct–March.
The city centre
The main street of Vicenza, the Corso Andrea Palladio, is a vestige of the
Roman street plan and cuts right through the old centre from the Piazza
Castello (overlooked by an eleventh-century tower, once part of the Scaligeri
fort) down to the Piazza Matteotti. Traffic is restricted from the Corso, so
the palaces that line it – now occupied by shops, offices and banks – can be
admired with little risk, although you should keep your ears open for the
occasional bus, and look out for cyclists.
The first major building comes just before the start of the Corso, on the far
side of the Piazza Castello – it’s the fragmentary Palazzo Porto-Breganze,
Palladio’s last palace in Vicenza. None of Palladio’s town houses was completed
to plan, but none of the others is as flagrantly unfinished as this one.
Particularly striking on the Corso itself are the following houses: no. 13,
the Palazzo Thiene Bonin-Longhare (by Palladio’s follower Scamozzi); no.
38–40, Palazzo Pagello (1780); no. 47, Palazzo Thiene (fifteenth-century);
no. 67, Palazzo Brunello (fifteenth-century – have a look at the courtyard);
no. 98, Palazzo Trissino (now the town hall; also by Scamozzi); no. 147, Palazzo
da Schio (fifteenth-century, restored), which is known as the Ca’ d’Oro as
it once had gilded decoration and bears a slight resemblance to the Ca’ d’Oro
in Venice; and no. 163, the Casa Cogollo, known as the Casa del Palladio
even though it’s unlikely that he designed it (despite what the plaque says) and
he certainly never lived there. None of the churches on the Corso is of any
interest to non-parishioners.
The Card Musei
The e8 Card Musei (e12 for family card, valid for two adults and three children)
gives admission to the Teatro Olimpico, the Museo Civico, the less than enthralling
Museo Naturalistico-Archeologico, and the Museo del Risorgimento, a rather
specialized museum that’s a long way out of the city centre. The first three of
these can be visited only with the Card Musei. The card can be bought at the tourist
office or any of the sights covered by the pass, and is valid for three days.
Vicenza, Verona and around
| Vicenza
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