Walled Cities of Veneto

Excitement!

Today was market day inside the walls of the city and the streets were filled with vendors displaying their wares.

By 8:00  am, people were busy perusing the streets, and Morena and I couldn't resist walking around a bit. I was honestly surprised to see so many items being sold that were made in Italy, because in the U.S., most of the markets like these would be selling items made in China.

Apparently this happens every Monday in Cittadella, but I found it to be less than ordinary, to be sure.  It was like bringing the mall to the streets.  Quite a phenomenon.   

After our shopping adventures, we headed out with Dennis & Marty to yet another walled city:  Bassano del Grappa.  

On the way, we stopped at the Cemetery/Crematorium where some of Morena's family is buried.

Located in the very back of the grounds is a  military cemetery.  I had spotted those all too familiar neat  rows of white crosses in the distance.  

But I was surprised to learn that these graves hold the remains of Hungarian and German soldiers who lost their lives during World War I while fighting in the vicinity of Cittadella.  The dates ranged from 24 May 1915 to 4 Nov 1916.

From May 1915 through Nov 1917, the front line of the First World War ran through the Dolomites.  Cittadella stands near the base of these mountains, so it isn't hard to understand why so many graves of enemy soldiers stand memorialized here.

Every grave holds the remains of at least four deceased soldiers, with many listing as many as eight on the headstone.

At the very end of the cemetery stands a  memorial to those men who will forever be listed as unknowns.

Although I realize that it was the Italian government who declared  war on Austria, I still found it amazing that it was Italians who made certain that their enemy received a proper burial with recognition.  Every man who was found was recognized with an inscription upon a metal plate placed in the center of the white stone grave marker.  

At the same time men were following orders to kill the enemy, a group of people were making the compassionate effort to be certain that the fallen were recognized and properly buried.  There may be more behind this story of which I am unaware, but I believe that credit is due to those people of Cittadella who made certain that strangers were properly laid to rest.

By this time we decided that we should head on to our destination of the day:  Bassano del Grappa, another walled city in the Veneto district.

Unlike Marostica and Cittadella, not all of the walls continue to be preserved.  This charming city is nestled at the foot of the Dolomites with a river running through it.  It is one of the most picturesque cities that we have visited.

Overlooking the valley stand the remnants of a castle built in 998.

Its location at the top of a hill  makes it a prime defensive stronghold.

One of the sights that we were interested in was a distillery museum located near the Alpini Bridge.

There was a LOT of Grappa on display.

And all kinds of equipment on display as the museum featured the distillation processes of Grappa over the years.

There were the "twins" which were two connected stills hermetically closed in which the material was redistilled in continuation until obtaining the "Quintessence".

Marty argued that it was an impossible system, but I assured him that it must have worked at some time,  since it was on display in the museum. 

Upgrading, we came to the Double Boiler distilling apparatus

And, of course, the Pelican apparatus

Clever names, don't you think?

Marty and I thoroughly enjoyed the museum.  A distillation column to a Chem E is like gold to a jeweler!  Just look at how happy that guy is!

And that was before he was sampling the Grappa!

By the way, Grappa is known as "The water of life," the term stemming from the monastery that would have been the first to create it.

After sniffing and tasting the product, we headed down towards the Alpini Bridge

and found the picture perfect viewpoint with the old structure behind  us. (as well as a crane, as you can see by the photo.)

The view from the bridge was spectacular, as you can see.

We stopped for lunch where we were entertained by this cute little dog who felt the need to bark at every car that dared to park at the entrance to the shop.

Can you see him standing guard?

And we discovered some interesting sights in the center of the town.

An Astronomical clock constructed in 1756

which, believe it or not, still works!

A wedding cake tower that certainly made my mouth drool.   Don't you just feel like digging in for a bite?

And a fountain of which I can offer no explanation

On the way back to the car we couldn't help but notice the rows of trees resembling mushrooms along the walk.  Each tree bore a metal plate with a name and a date.  

This tree-lined street is called the Viale del Martiri and is named for the 31 partisans who were killed by the Nazis and hung from these trees during World War II.  

The trees continue to be a living memorial to those men, and although they are quite beautiful, I couldn't help but be saddened by the cruelty that their presence reflects.  This was the second time in one day where the horrors of war were all too obvious.  The first showed the burials of the enemy.  This showed the senseless deaths of Italian citizens by the enemy.  So very sad. 

We walked past the trees and down to the car where, once again, Dennis took over the driving duties.  This time we were on the road to the village of Castlefranco.  I suppose that it won't surprise you to hear that it is yet another walled city.

By this time, the sun decided to make an appearance, and we couldn't have been happier.

We stepped into the church for a few minutes, 

and admired the Municipio building across the street.

After a quick walk around the wall, we headed back to Cittadella for the evening. 

Marty and I took a quick stroll around the walls, admiring their beauty.

At 8:00, we met Dennis &  Morena, and walked outside the walls to a lovely restaurant for dinner.

Once again, the meal was fabulous!

Before I end my story for the day....I'd like to share a wee bit of humor with you, if you're up for it.

When we were in Bassano del Grappa earlier in the day, I found myself in desperate need of a bathroom. So, when we stopped for lunch, I politely asked for the "toilette" and was directed down the hall.

Upon entering the back room, I found that there was no distinguishing between men and women, so I hesitantly pushed open the door to find a large stainless steel square on the floor with a hole towards one end. 

I'll admit that this was not my preferred method, but I was desperate, so what could I do?

Let me just say, without any details, that I somehow managed to do what I needed to do without falling into the floor, ( but it was NOT easy, to say the least, and I will admit that I was glad that I decided to wear a skirt today).

I went back to the table and informed everyone that although the bathroom was not what I would consider my best choice, it was clean.

At this point, Morena decided that it was her turn to use the facilities.  She came back and mentioned  that the place had certainly upgraded the facilities since they had last been there.

Upgraded?  Here's my opinion on that:  If you're going to "upgrade", couldn't you REALLY do better than a stainless steel plate in the floor?  Just saying.

Well, tonight, after dinner, Morena and I headed together to use the facilities, not quite sure of what to expect.  She slowly opened the door, peeked inside, breathed a sigh of relief,  

and said to me, "You lucked out this time, Barbara!"

Really?  I lucked out?  I couldn't help but find that comment to be rather amusing.

I wasted no time informing my friend that this was certainly a "WIN WIN" situation for everyone......not just for me.

After all, does anyone really prefer a hole in the ground for such matters?  

You needn't answer that.

Back to my story......

Not only was dinner fabulous, our walk home offered a spectacular view of the walls at night. 

Have you ever seen something quite so awesome?

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!