We nearly ran through Castelfranco to catch our train to Vicenza--Paola is a FAST walker! After a quick train ride, we had to change trains . . . little did we know that instead of getting on another train, we would have to take a bus. Once we finally found the bus (thankfully our Italian-speaking House Fellow was there to figure it out!), we hopped on expecting a quick half-hour ride to our hotel. Turns out that half-hour was instead a one-hour ride through back roads and desolate countryside . . . some said our driver got lost on the way to Vicenza--who knows. After a long, tired walk through the city, complete with a confrontation with some Italian teens, we got to our hotel.

The next morning we went on a Palladio spree, checking out a number of his buildings in Vicenza, including Teatro Olimpico, another of those places we learn about through slideshows in history class.  This theater is famous because it is one of the earliest enclosed theaters, so it is pretty old . . . I think maybe 400 years . . . and it is still a functioning theater. It is also notable because the architect designed the stage to create a more three-dimensional setting. Some of the ways he designed it were to slope the floor so it appears to recede (like a perspectival drawing). Also, by using "fingers" of scenery stretching into the background of the stage, it is possible to view into the scene and get a dimensional, rather than flat, sense of the place. Pretty interesting.

The experience of experiencing the theater was entertaining. The woman, let's call her guardswoman, who was letting our group in ran through a bunch of rules that students always break . . . and making really negative remarks about students. Some of the rules she said were 'no flash' (which I, unknowingly violated while I was taking a picture of the crabby guardswoman--thankfully, she didn't catch me!) and to only use the small stairs which lead to the larger seats (think bleacher-type seating). Well, as people would file into the room, they would start step onto the larger seats (which look like stairs), and the guardswomen would shout "Scale piccoli!!" It added a dose of entertainment to the almost solemn event of the theater.

We were about this|close to Villa Rotunda, THE Palladio work most discussed in architectural history classes, but we didn't make it out there because we had another date with Carlo Scarpa in Verona.

On the evening of the 4th august we left Verona to see nearby´s Vicenza. Why we have chosen Vicenza? Well, in case you don´t know him, its time to introduce Palladio.

The architect Palladio was a well known engineer in Venetto´s area. He was responsible of the most admirables houses of the region and was a must for the rich and posh people of his era. Palladio´s best works where the Villas (the "palladian´s villas") for the nobles of Venezia. There is a lot of villas in a different places here and there in the venetto, and some of them are private and not allowed to go inside. To see which are open to public and get some timetables and useful information, visit http://www.cisapalladio.org/. (look for the map in "palladio in the veneto" section)

But there is one place where you can admire much of this genius´ work without needing a car: the town of Vicenza. Here, he´s responsible for almost all the best buildings you´ll see, including the historical "Teatro Olimpico", a truly masterpiece.

We left the car in one of the car parkings of Vicenza (not too expensive) and went walking to the center. At the beginning we felt disappointed with the look of the city: a modern, distant, even ugly place without any charm. Even the sight of Salvi Gardens, just outside the old town, wasn´t good enough for us. It was a good garden, right, but the fountain and the Valmanara palace looked old and careless.

When we entered the old town, however, things changed. Logia Bernarda, Piazza dei signori, Schio´s palace... every single building was incredible!!! Really, we enjoyed so much this place that we considered to come back at the next day to continue the visit... and after seeing the Teatro Olimpico, we were decided.