On October 4 and 5, Anika, Brock and I had a very interesting adventure with a Rotary tour group from Florence. Friday night, my host mom told me that us three would be going with a tour group on Saturday and Sunday to see the sights of Vicenza and near Vicenza. I was excited for a few reasons- I got to be with my friends, learn about my city more in depth and of course miss Saturday school! :P Saturday morning was a rainy day but the rain made the clouds fantastic. Anika, Brock and I met the Rotary Club from Florence and then we started our tour around 9. We first began at the Teatro Olimpico. I learned a few new things about the outstanding theater- that there is a perspective painting in the background of the theater to make it look like the stadge is part of a city and goes on for forever, yet it is only a few meters long. Also, every single statue and piece of wood and seats and everything is original and hundreds of years old. The only part that was refurbished was the stage floor and some hallways to enter the theater.
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This is what the inside of the theater looks like...it is so pretty and more interesting when I know some facts about it!
After the teatro, we took a stop to a small coffee shop (which had amazing brioches!!!) and the next stop was to the Basilica Palladiana- the famous building in the center of Vicenza. (To be honest, the tour was in Italian, and Brock, Anika and I couldn't understand everything the tour guide was saying, but we got the picture that it was really old and really famous for its fantastic architecture for this time period!! :P)
This is the view of the Basilica from the town square.
After this stop, we went to smaller visits. We stopped at a corner in Vicenza and saw old palaces that have been turned into banks, churches with fantastic inlaid marble statues, and to a corner in Vicenza that showed all the types of architecture.
Then it was lunch! (Of course we were the most excited for this part!) We had a huuuuuge lunch- antipasto, creamy pasta with loads of cheese, thick pork with mushrooms, and a tiramisu dessert. It was fantastic.
After lunch, we visited a few more very important places, which Anika and I had already visited, but it was Brocks first time. We visited a very famous church called Monte Berico, which is famous for it's architecture and for the fossils inside. There were fossils there is sea creatures that were millions of years old! It was quite interesting how there were science things mixed with the church.
This is Monte Berico, which also faces a fantastic view of the city.
We visited La Rotonda, the famous villa known for having four identical sides. Although this time, we got to go inside the building, and it was fantastically beautiful, as most villas here are! The villas are usually covered in art and intricate fabrics and furniture, and this one was no different.
We visited a few more villas and more art, and then it was time to go home to freshen up before we had a large Rotary dinner that night. I quite enjoyed the dinner- got to meet new Vicenza Rotarians and also got to talk more with the Florence Rotarians. We mostly spoke only Italian to them, but there was one British woman who lived in Italy who was very nice to us and talked to us quite a bit. It was a fun night to meet new people and have a fantastic dinner. Never have I had a poor meal here in Italy yet! The food is fantastic!
The next day was Sunday, and we headed off to visit more villas farther away, closer to Venice. One villa was called Villa Pisani, and it had 114 rooms. The owners were fantastically rich, and there is even a tale that Napoleon Bonaparte slept in one of the rooms for one night. All the rooms had art and decoration and big furniture! Just imagine playing hide-and-seek in a place like that... :D
Villa Pisani- it was ginormous!
We even took a boat to visit a few more villas, because they are only accessible by boat. One villa was really creepy for me- it was called Villa Malcontenta. It was a villa owned by a rich man who rarely lived there. One day, he found out his wife was unfaithful to him. He then locked her in this huge house by herself until she died. She could only go outside in the backyard and that was it. It was really a beautiful villa, but the thought of someone suffering and lonely in there until she died made it seem eerie and sad to me.
This is the front entrance...even it looks creepy!!
The inside of Malcontenta- most villas looked like this- beautiful art and old furniture in a very large house.
After visiting all the architecture and villas and eating delicious food, we said our goodbyes to the Rotary club from Florence. They were so sweet to us and included us in everything they did. I will miss them. But the good part is that they liked US and have invited us to visit their home in the spring! To Florence!!!! How exciting!!! :) I will look forward to that. It was a really fun weekend and very interesting to see all the villas and cool places that are so close to my home here.
This was all the weekend before, and the end of Part 1! :)
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