★ History and art · Venice and the lagoonVeniceAn almost deserted island in the northern lagoon, with a 7th-century basilica and a path along a canal between the fields.
The storyBefore Venice rose to power, Torcello was the most important settlement in the lagoon, founded by refugees from Altinum fleeing the invasions. The cathedral of Santa Maria Assunta, founded in 639, holds an immense mosaic of the Last Judgement. Marshes and malaria emptied the island, which today has only a few dozen inhabitants. Hemingway stayed here in 1948 to write and hunt ducks.
Full page, why go and what's nearby →★ History and art · Venice and the lagoonVeniceA monastery island facing San Marco, with a cloister, gardens, a library of Armenian manuscripts and a small museum.
The storyIn 1717 the Republic of Venice granted the island, a former leper colony, to the Armenian abbot Mekhitar, who had fled the Morea with his monks. Ever since, it has been one of the world's leading centres of Armenian culture, with a printing press that turned out books in dozens of languages. In 1816 Lord Byron came here by gondola almost every day to study Armenian with the monks.
Full page, why go and what's nearby →★ Town · Venice and the lagoonVeniceA very long, thin island between the lagoon and the sea, with fishing villages of colourful houses and a stone sea wall on the seaward side.
The storyThe murazzi, sea walls of Istrian stone blocks that protect the island from storm surges, were built by the Republic of Venice between 1744 and 1782. A plaque bears the motto «Ausu romano, aere veneto»: with Roman daring and Venetian money. In 1966 the floodwater overtopped them, but the wall largely saved the lagoon.
Full page, why go and what's nearby →★ Nature · Verona, Lake Garda and LessiniaSant'Anna d'AlfaedoA gigantic natural rock arch in the Lessinia mountains above Valpolicella, with caves inhabited in prehistoric times.
The storyThe arch is what remains of a great karst cave whose roof collapsed. Stone Age tools and bones have been found in the nearby caves, and the bridge is said to have inspired the rocks of Dante's Inferno (Dante was a guest of the Scaligers in Verona) and the landscapes of Andrea Mantegna.
Full page, why go and what's nearby →★ Town · Vicenza, Padua and the villasArquà PetrarcaA medieval village in the Euganean Hills where Francesco Petrarca (Petrarch) spent his last years, with his house and his tomb in the square.
The storyThe poet retired here and died in 1374. In his house, a mummified cat sits in a niche, with a Latin epigram presenting it as Petrarch's beloved cat: it was placed there in the 17th century by an owner of the house, and the legend has become part of the place. The village is also famous for jujubes, which gave Italian the saying «andare in brodo di giuggiole», to be over the moon.
Full page, why go and what's nearby →★ Town · Vicenza, Padua and the villasMontagnanaA town enclosed by an almost intact medieval wall about two kilometres long, with twenty-four towers and two great fortified gates.
The storyThe walls were rebuilt in the 14th century by the lords of Padua, the Carraresi, on the border with the Scaligers' lands. They are among the best preserved in Europe and still ring the whole centre. The town is also known for its Veneto prosciutto and the palio of the ten communes.
Full page, why go and what's nearby →★ Nature · Vicenza, Padua and the villasValli del PasubioA mountain path on the Pasubio massif that runs through fifty-two tunnels carved into the rock, with dizzying views.
The storyDuring the First World War the Pasubio was on the front line. To move men and supplies safe from Austrian artillery, between February and November 1917 Italian army engineers dug a mule track over six kilometres long, with fifty-two numbered tunnels. Each tunnel still bears its number and a name.
Full page, why go and what's nearby →★ History and art · Treviso, Asolo and Prosecco countryPossagnoAntonio Canova's birthplace, with his house, the gipsoteca of plaster models and the great neoclassical temple that dominates the village.
The storyCanova was born here in 1757 and gave the village a temple he designed himself, where he is buried. The gipsoteca holds the original plaster models of his works, such as Cupid and Psyche and the Three Graces. In 1957 the architect Carlo Scarpa added a modern wing with windows that capture the light: a masterpiece of 20th-century architecture.
Full page, why go and what's nearby →★ History and art · The Belluno DolomitesLongaroneA towering dam, still intact, in a gorge, and below it a rebuilt town: the scene of one of Italy's greatest tragedies.
The storyOn the evening of 9 October 1963 a huge landslide broke away from Monte Toc and fell into the dam's reservoir. The wave overtopped the dam, which held, and crashed down into the Piave valley, destroying Longarone and other villages: nearly two thousand people died. The risks had been reported, including by the journalist Tina Merlin. Today you can visit the crest of the dam and, in Longarone, the museum and the rebuilt church.
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