From the White House to the Rotunda at the University of Virginia, from the Villa di Monticello to the house in Gone with the Wind.
From Thomas Jefferson onwards, Palladian architecture has always been the distinguishing mark of American high society houses. So much so that the United States Congress has officially adopted a Resolution which recognises Andrea Palladio as the "father" of American architecture.
The route offers a guided tour of discovery of the first Palladian villa – Villa Godi Malinverni – and other villas of Palladian inspiration located in the Alto Vicentino (Villa Piovene Porto Godi, Villa Capra Bassani), accompanied by a guide who will describe the parallels between the most famous American houses, explaining how the artist from Padua influenced Amercican architecture
from the colonial era onwards.
The tour operator suggests:
Welcome drink, guided tour of the villas (by request), overnight stay in a double room in a B&B, dinner based on products that are traditional in the venues
chosen. Cost from € 105,00 a head.
The Chess Square in Marostica, every second weekend of September in even-numbered years, brings alive the story of the daughter of the Lord of Marostica, Taddeo Parisio, and the two young men, Rinaldo d'Angarano and Vieri da Vallonara, who fought for the hand of His Lordship's beautiful daughter. The legend has it that, in order to avoid bloodshed, the lord of the manor decided to give the hand of his daughter Lionora to whoever of the two rivals won a round of the noble game of chess, granting his other daughter's hand to the loser.
Over 600 people in period costume recall the legend of Lionora through the living Chess Match, offering a wonderful performance enriched with various extra stage effects.
After watching this enchanting show, a visit to the Chess Match Costume Museum is a must, to discover the origins and the tradition of this unique spectacle.
The tour operator suggests:
Watching the Chess Match with living characters, entry ticket with seat reservation (a date of your choice among the three on which the show takes place), entry to the Chess Match Costumes Museum, overnight stay in double room, B&B service, dinner
based on typical products. Cost from € 175,00 a head.
The ghostly evocation of certain legendary characters who lived in the Lower Castle from the 14th to the 20th Centuries, offered by "Notte degli Spiriti" – Night of the Spirits –, is the time to discover Marostica's darker past. The peculiar events, shared secrets, mysteries and shadowy society which have marked the thousand year old history of the town will be evoked. The event takes place inside the Lower Castle and unfolds – in the gloom that is barely brightened by the torches – over 175 yards of parapet walks, 2 loggias, 5 dungeons and 13 rooms by a crowd of disquieting spectres and dark shapes in costume. A different and striking way of spending Halloween night, at Kilometre Zero.
The Castle also houses the museum of straw hats which offers the reclamation and appreciation of the historic record of an activity which developed from the end of the 18th Century.
The tour operator suggests:
Visit to the museum of straw hats, taking part in the event described above, overnight stay in double room in a B&B at Marostica, dinner in venues characteristic of the area. We suggest ending your stay with a tasting in a typical wine cellar along the route of the Strada del Torcolato. Cost from € 98,00 a head.
A route that traces the paths of industrial progress and innovative manufacturing processes at the heart of the textile production which has occupied man's ingenuity as well as his hands and which, thanks to the help of machinery, have woven cloth and coloured threads for centuries. Wool production, already flourishing in this wide valley from the 14th/15th Centuries, saw considerable development at the end of the Eighteenth Century when the weavers of Valdagno gained permission to make best-quality cloth, panni alti. During the crisis of the Napoleonic era that followed, only the firm of Luigi Marzotto survived, which grew and introduced new technology.
The Museum of Weaving Machines has been set up in the actual workshops of the firm, with the aim of showing the technological progress of a production industry which has left a deep impression on the town and the surrounding area. It is spread over many rooms, each dedicated to different fibres and yarn spinning, and a teaching workshop is available for schools and groups.
In the Sala della Tessitura weaving room, you can see the latest generation of looms for cloth, both smooth and embroidered, in operation and compare them with the old methods of design and production. A veritable plunge into the history of progress in industrial technology and in the social and economic history of this part of the world.
The tour operator suggests:
Tour of the Museum of Weaving Machines, tour of the Città Sociale area, a model city at a human level desired and built by Gaetano Marzotto in the first half of the Twentieth Century, and tour of Valdagno town centre. Dinner with sampling of typical Monte Faldo potato products and recipes based on feverfew. Overnight stay in the Valdagno area in a double room with B&B service. Cost from € 95,00 a head.
Tour guide on request
Palladian route for discovering some of the villas that typify the district of Vicenza
(Villa Godi Malinverni, Villa Piovene Porto Godi).
A veritable array of artworks that light up the nighbourhood with Sixteenth-Century
good taste. A refinement which is reflected in every aspect of culture,
starting with unique flavours which, thanks to the masterly and centuries-old
work of craftsmen, rightly form part of our national culinary excellence. To get
to know them better, a local chef will guide visitors in the preparation of dishes
based on De.Co. locally approved products, offering them a genuine cookery
course. Dinner will follow, based on the dishes prepared, coupled with local
wines and liqueurs.
The tour operator suggests:
Tour of the villas (guide on request), cookery course
and dinner at the restaurant "Il Torchio Antico" at
Lugo di Vicenza, overnight stay in a double room,
B&B service. Cost from € 185,00 a head.
