Villa Contarini in Piazzola sul Brenta

Once again, our day began with a smile

Isn't this place great?

After breakfast, we headed towards Piazzolo sul Brenta with Dennis once again behind the wheel.

It didn't take long for us to arrive there, but the place was packed with people as there was a huge flea market taking place in the town.  Just about every available space was filled with white tents and tables displaying just about anything imaginable.   It was crazy!

We wove our way through the maze of displayed wares, and finally reached our intended destination:  The Villa Contarini.

I pulled out my camera to take a photo, and immediately realized that I had charged the battery, but forgot to put it back in my camera.  What a disappointment!  

Morena was quick to offer me the use of her camera, which I was happy to accept.  Unfortunately, her camera card is not compatible with my transfer device, so I have no way of transferring her photos. 

Luckily, Marty was busy taking his own photos with his phone, so I have a few images that I can share.

The Villa is quite impressive as it is surrounded by a very large English landscape park complete with a lake and walkways lined with tall trees.  I took a great photo of Marty standing under them, but I suppose that you'll just have to take my word on that one.

Here you can see me standing at the gates to the property.

A canal runs along the front walkway.

and the  front of the building is lovely with a fountain and beautiful flowers

complete with an entertaining statue that featured golden wings upon its back. 

This history of this place is rather interesting.

It is believed that the Villa was built around 1546 on the remains of a castle built in 1000 by the Da Carrara family.  

It was purchased by a nobel from Padua by the name of Carraresi and eventually inherited by the Contarini family.  It was a rural family residence until Marco Contarini extended the building in the mid 1600's making it more like a Royal Palace. 

Over time, the villa suffered neglect for many years, (although the information does not explain why) until the Camerini family returned it to its former splendor.

Yet again, the villa was neglected until a man named Giordono Ghirardi purchased it in 1969.  When he died, in 2005, the Villa became the property of the local administration and since then it has been maintained.  

Upon entering the building we learned that we could view the interior. 

The bad news was that the tour would only be 30 minutes long, was limited to 20 people, and was only given in Italian.

The good news was that the admission price was half price.  Considering that we had our own Italian translator, it was obvious to me that this was a win-win situation for us,  and we signed up for the noon tour.  When all was said and done, we all agreed that 30 minutes was just about enough for all of us.

The tour began in the auditorium which is also known as the "chitarra rovesciata" (translated that means upturned guitar).  It is called such because it is constructed in 3 elves with an orchestra level on the second floor and an oval hole in the ceiling above the balcony.

The layout resulted in the ceiling acting like the sound resonator of a giant guitar, allowing the orchestra music on the balcony to be amplified and flow through the aperture, filling the auditorium.  How clever is that?

The limited tour took us through one wing of the palace.  Each room was decorated a bit differently with each involving a different theme. There was the Hunting room where one might imagine that they were part of a hunt in the 18th century, complete with flying pheasants painted on the ceiling, an Arts and Science room featuring scenes representing many facets of those subjects, and a faux mosaic room which was filled with painted walls that mimicked mosaic.  Interestingly enough, the next room that we entered actually featured genuine mosaic with hundreds of tiles pressed into the plaster to make a beautiful mural on all 4 walls.

  

Our trip upstairs led to a beautiful white room known as the Mirror Room.

No photos were permitted inside, but I was able to find a couple features of this Villa online.  Here is a photo of the Mirror room

Don't you just love it?

And, here is another online photos that features the ball room.  No description could possibly do it justice.

As I mentioned, 30 minutes was plenty of time for us to see what the Villa had to offer.  Marty and I were thrilled that our friends had decided to take us to see this unique palace.

We headed back to Cittadella where we enjoyed a lovely lunch and decided to spend some time relaxing in the afternoon before attending evening mass.

On our way back to the hotel, we passed this awesome car parked in front of the church, more than likely the transportation of the bride and groom who would be getting married at 3:00.

Couldn't resist sharing that photo with you.  How awesome is that?

As planned, we headed to the church at 6:30 p.m. for mass at the  Cathedral of SS Prosdocimo and Donato.  This was the first time that I had heard of either saint and I have no information to share regarding either of them.

Walking through the door, I immediately fell in love with the place.  The Church organist was extremely talented and the Duomo resonated the music so beautifully.  The homily was way too long, but when the cantor began singing Panus Angelicus after communion, time just stood still as I closed my eyes and found myself lost in the beauty of the moment.

When we walked out of Mass, it felt like we were in Scotland, a bit chilly with rain pouring down.  No worries, though.  We had our umbrellas and headed to a little restaurant where we had a table waiting for us, thanks to Luciana, our hotel proprietor who had made reservations for us earlier in the day.

At first, we didn't quite know what to expect since the place was filled with wall to wall "young" people.  But the waiter headed us back to a very comfortable table for 4 where we settled in immediately.

Dinner was excellent and the camaraderie perfect.

The music was really quite entertaining, and when I realized that I was listening to "Another one bites the dust" and looked up to see Morena sitting next to this painting

how could I possibly resist capturing that moment?

Spectacular Walled Cities

What a spectacular way to start the day:  In Italy...... with a Cappuccino!

Believe me....it doesn't get much better than that.

After enjoying a lovely breakfast, we began our gallivanting with Dennis behind the wheel, chauffeuring us across the Italian countryside to walled city west of Cittadella called Marostica.

As we neared this city, the view of it was amazing.  This is the best photo that I could capture from a moving vehicle.

If you look closely, you can view the upper castle with a wall running down both sides.  What you can't see is that the wall continues to the lower castle, which is where we parked and began our tour.

Here you can see my friend, Morena with the lower castle in the background.

Doesn't she look fabulous?

We walked through the lower castle into the center courtyard.

One of the features that makes this town so unique is that there is a larger than lifesize chessboard set into the plaza. This photo from the display kind of gives you an example.

Every even year, on the second weekend in September, a Live Chess game is re-enacted in Marostica.

The game dates back to 1454 when 2 noblemen fell in love with Lionora, daughter of the Lord of Marostica.  They challenged each other to a duel for her hand.

 The Lord did not want to make an enemy of either suitor, nor did he want to lose one in a duel, so he forbade the duel according to Venetian Law.

Instead, he proclaimed that the rivals should play a chess game and Lignora would take the winner as a husband.  The loser of the game would marry his younger daughter, Oldrada.

The game took place on this square with armed living persons.

Seems like a win-win for the Lord, since both daughters would have a husband.  And since the daughter wouldn't have a choice whom she could marry anyway, why not kill two birds with one stone......right?  

OK, I was just kidding.....Can't help but wonder what Lionora had over Oldrada in the first place,  unless, as the eldest, she was required to marry first.  I'm afraid that I'm not up on the social etiquette of the 1400's.

But I found it fascinating knowing that this duel is recreated in very much the same sense as the original, except, I'm presuming that the winner isn't forced to marry someone's daughter!  Feel free to research this for me.  I'm too busy exploring.

Back to my adventures....

For four hundred years Marostica was ruled by Venice, and its dominion is recorded by a statue of the lion of St. Mark, Venice's symbol, in the piazza

At the foot of the mountain where the Upper Castle stands majestically over this walled town, there are two churches, the one in the distance being part of a Carmelite Monastery.

The lower church, on the right above, is dedicated to St. Antonio Abate.  The church was open for public viewing, so how could we resist taking a look around?

At the top of the steps stands "The Church of the Madonna del Carmine".

It was built in the very early 1600's.  Isn't that amazing?  The interior is much smaller that St. Antoniono, but there is a peaceful tranquility as you gaze upon the beauty inside.

The church is at the base of the rocky steps leading to the upper castle.

Could we resist such a challenge?  Heavens NO!

So, Marty and I began our ascent to the top, which, I will be quite honest with you, had me breathless a couple of times on the way up.  

But stopping offered some great photo opportunities!

You can see olive trees loaded with fruit, ready for picking.  (I'm not going to mention here that my climbing partner couldn't resist picking one).

Finally......we were at the top of the steps at the base of the Upper Castle.

Almost there......

The view from the top was amazing, as you can well imagine.  But I was surprised to see that it was very difficult to make out the walls around the city among the rooftops of the houses.  As you had seen, the wall was obvious to spot from the road.  But with the various tall trees and high houses, the wall got lost in the view.

But, that didn't make it any less spectacular.  I zoomed in on the lower castle just to get an idea of the confines of Marostica.

The white area is where the Chess Board is inlaid into the plaza.

Believe it or not, Marty managed to spot Morena and Dennis from the top as there were not a lot of tourists in the town. We headed back down the trail, which you probably don't have to guess, was much easier than the climb up.

We joined our friends for a relaxing drink

which was much appreciated, since the day was quite warm.

On the way back to the car, the sun became brilliant, and we certainly could not pass on that photo opportunity, could we?

It was nice to relax as Dennis drove us back to Cittadella where the first thing on the agenda was lunch at an outdoor cafe.

Italians have their own set of time tables, and by 1:30, the kitchen was closed, but the waitress was more than happy to make us up a cold plate of salad, ham and cheese with fresh bread which was quite tasty.  And, of course, the pleasant company added to the meal as well.

Our afternoon was spent walking the walls of Cittadella. 

The walk is open only during certain hours of the day, and you must purchase a ticket to make the walk.

I had known that the walls had been under preservation for many years, but we were surprised to find that we could actually walk the entire way around the town on the walk.

I just couldn't get over the beauty of the Duomo with the Bell tower right in the middle of the city.

Marty, of course, couldn't resist one of his clever self-portraits with my camera.

Here is the view of Cittadella from the back of the Duomo.

And here we are:  gallivanting geismom, husband and friends

Don't we look great?

Well....I've got to run.

Another day......more gallivanting!

An Italian Adventure

Ready for some celebrating?  You know that birthday tune:

Happy Birthday to me........I'm in Italy.......in a town named Cittadella.....how lucky for me?

Well.....to be quite honest with you.....I wasn't feeling so lucky earlier in the day when I got so sick at the airport I didn't know if I'd board the plane.  Luckily I keep immodium in my purse, and it once again saved the day.

Or when I was randomly picked to go through a separate body scan search after I had cleared the first security line with flying colors.  That lead to another pat down and a set of interesting questions:

How old are you?  Today's my birthday.  I'm 55.  Where does that put me?  (The range was 51-70, so the birthday was a moot point.)

Where were you born?  In the United States.

Where do you live?  In the United States.

What religion would you consider yourself, if you have one? 

Really?  How does this tie into body scanning? 

Roman Catholic.

I must have passed the question test, because they finally let me through security.  

Also wan't feeling so lucky when what should have taken 2 1/2 hours of driving time ended up being nearly five.

But my spirits immediately rose the minute that I was greeted by my good friends, Morena and Dennis, who are in Cittadella themselves for a 3 week holiday.

When I learned of their plans, I couldn't resist asking Morena if Marty and I could tag along for a week so that she and I could spend our birthdays together.

I was already going to be in Scotland with Marty, and EasyJet offers some ridiculously low fares from Edinburgh to Milan........so what did she think?

Needless to say.....she was thrilled.  And the plans were set into motion.

Cittadella is such a lovely little town.  Since I hadn't had anything to eat all day, we stopped for a light bite at this lovely outdoor cafe in the center of the town.

Isn't that a beautiful view?

I didn't get many photos today, but I do plan to do so these next few days.  Here are a couple that I took while we walked around a bit.

It's like going back in time......with modern conveniences.

Our hotel is located inside the walls.....and actually, there is quite a bit of hub bub activity going on outside.  Apparently Friday night is Party night......or perhaps everyone is celebrating my birthday!  

Well, we did have a lovely dinner out with Morena's cousins 

and their extremely entertaining husbands, 

including mine. 

We don't speak Italian, but we still managed to have a wonderful time this evening at dinner. You would have thought that we were family!

It looks like we'll be having some real adventures over these next several days.  

Gallivanting looks better than ever this week!

Gold for Aberdour

I knew that this charming town was a real gem,  but I was surprised to read that it took the prize for the Best small coastal village at the Beautiful Fife Awards.  Apparently a LOT of people are unaware of this, because there aren't many tourists around.   That's probably why Marty and I enjoy it so much.

It's QUIET!  Non-hurried.....charming, don't you think?

There's a lovely bakery on the corner near the train station

I've seen lines out the door when I've visited before.  I was so looking forward to their tempting delights.  But this sign squelched that idea.

Oh well...that's probably for the best anyway.  

                                                

There's not much more to this town, except that it does boast 3 small, lovely hotels

and, obviously, an interesting dress shop.

Honestly, it wouldn't be a  place I'd be interested in visiting, but, even if I did, I wouldn't have been able since it has had a Closed sign in the window every day.

Perhaps the owner is on holiday with the baker?  Who knows?

Today is another delightful day, and I chose to stay in Aberdour and enjoy it.  I was able to get some laundry done, as the proprietor offers his laundry services at a very small cost.

I popped into the post office to ask the man there about the possible future of the post cards that I had already mailed but forgot to list USA when I addressed it.  He seemed fairly confident that the Scottish postal system would realize that the recipient was in the United States, and that they would be sent on.

I mentioned that I was sure that the postage was way too high for a post card, because the woman who sold me the stamps did not know which stamp to sell me.  He agreed, and insisted on exchanging them for the Scottish Thistle stamp with the correct amount for a post card.

It was obvious that he was very proud of the Thislte stamp being unique to Scotland.  You see, Scotland is scheduled to vote for independence from the UK in 2014, so these locals are quite devoted to Scotland as a country in itself.

While I was chatting with this man (rotund little guy with a big grey bushy beard and entertaining accent), he felt the need to share a postal story with me.

Apparently someone from the town went on holiday to an  island and decided to mail home post cards. She had addressed one of them with just a name.  No address.....no country, and the correct woman received it!

I couldn't even imagine how that could happen, since Scottish surnames aren't exactly unique.
He went on to explain that the woman had written out several post cards, and someone in the mail room had noticed that the handwriting was the same on about four of them.  Three of them had the same town and county, so he just added it to the one missing the information........and it ended up at the correct house!

Such a typical story for this quaint little place.

I do have to admit, though, that this confirms my theory that postal workers read the post cards before sending them on, because it would often take way too long for me to receive one that would have been mailed to me.  I had always figured that the mailroom passed them around for review if the sender had shared an interesting story.  It appears that I wasn't off the mark in that analysis.

This evening was our last in Scotland, so we decided to have dinner at the Room with a View.

We decided to walk the coastal trail to the place since the weather was so lovely. 

You can see the house in the distance, just before the cliffs.

The views around the house were just lovely.

The atmosphere was relaxed with soft music playing in the background.  This was the view from our table.  Pretty nice, don't you think?

Really, we couldn't have asked for a more perfect evening.

And, believe it or not, we made the walk along the trail, back to the B&B, thanks to the wind-up "torch" that Howard loaned us. (We Americans call that a flashlight!)

Looking back, you can see just why we would need that light to find our way along the dark trail.  But really, it was no problem walking in the dark. 

Well, I'm off to bed for now.  We have an early morning that starts a whole new adventure.

Stay tuned........