Vicenza
UNESCO World Heritage Site (City Of Vicenza And The Palladian Villas Of The Veneto, Inscribed 1994 And Extended 1996, Criteria I And Ii; 23 Buildings In The City And 24 Villas In The Veneto) · Vicenza, Veneto
One architect rebuilt this town, and four hundred years later everyone from Thomas Jefferson to the builders of half the stately homes in England was still copying him. Andrea Palladio left twenty-three buildings inside Vicenza and two dozen villas across the Veneto, all of them inscribed together as a World Heritage site. The one to see is his last: the Teatro Olimpico, the oldest surviving covered theatre anywhere, finished after his death and opened in 1585 with a perspective stage set of streets receding into false distance that has stood on that stage ever since. On a hill outside town is the Villa La Rotonda, a perfectly symmetrical house with a portico on all four sides, still privately owned and open only at the end of the week. The trick to Vicenza is timing, because the theatre shuts on Mondays and the famous villa opens on three days out of seven. Build the trip around those two openings and the rest of the town, which costs nothing to walk, arranges itself around them.
Piazza Matteotti 11, Vicenza, Veneto, 36100, Italy
Teatro Olimpico 1 September to 30 June Tuesday to Sunday 09:00-17:00 with last entry 16:30, and 1 July to 31 August Tuesday to Sunday 10:00-18:00 with last entry 17:30; CLOSED EVERY MONDAY and on 25 December and 1 January, with short-notice changes for events. Basilica Palladiana terrace 10:00-18:00 Tuesday to Sunday in season, last entry 17:30, closed Mondays and in bad weather. Villa La Rotonda 14 March to 8 December only: Friday to Sunday 10:00-13:00 and 15:00-18:00 from April to October, Saturday and Sunday 10:00-12:30 and 14:30-17:00 in March and from November. Villa Valmarana ai Nani every day, 10:00-18:00 from 7 March to 1 November and 10:00-16:00 in winter, last admission an hour before closing.