Northen Italian Village-Crawl: Bassano del Grappa, Vicenza, Asolo

Working as an au pair has allowed me many benefits as a traveller. I don't have to pay for food or accommodation and with my Castelfranco family it was agreed that I was not needed by the family till 3pm monday to friday. I also had sundays off completely.

With my mornings off I liked to take the train to visit beautiful local towns, and during that period I made it to three.

Stop number 1: Bassano del Grappa

Bassano was recommended to me by many friends who have raved about its beauty, and it indeed was well worth the visit. Unfortunately not much was open in the way of the beautiful boutiques common to cobble-stone Italian towns due to it being low season. However the markets were on which I took a stroll through through. They were a little hit and miss, consisting mostly of outlet stalls for underclothes and bedsheets, but the highlights of the markets were the flower stalls which smelled amazing and the fresh produce stalls. I bought a punnet of strawberries when I was leaving and ate them as I strolled back to the train station. The other thing worth mentioning was the Libreria Palazzo Roberti, one of the most beautiful bookshops I have seen: www.palazzoroberti.it

After the markets I bought a thick Italian hot chocolate and strolled down to the otherwordlyAlpini Bridge which I am happy to say is as beautiful as it is on google images. I spent a long time leaning on the bannister, taking photos and indulging in the view.  I then walked down the opposite bank in order to take photos of the bridge from afar where I met some ducks encamped amongst the lilies and reeds. In my good mood I shared some of my mozarella and prosciutto panini with them.

I highly recommend Bassano,  even just as an aesthetic experience. It is a combination of quaint, tasteful, otherwordly, and sublime...a fascinating experience as a tourist. I couldn't stop musing the whole time I was there: 'To think people are so well acquainted with beauty it is their daily reality...I wonder if they know how lucky they are!'




Stop number 2: Vicenza

Vicenza I can imagine being so beautiful in the summer. The turqoise dome of the Basilica Palladiana must glow and make a beautiful contrast to the houses painted in bright shades of terracotta, peach and mustard. When I was there it was definitely still winter though. It was drizzly, a bit dark and the gray sky seemed to dull the details of the stonework of the Piazza dei Signori.

I strolled around, finding once again that many shops were still shut, but I did enjoy a nice nutella and strawberry crepe and decide against buying a bottle of Klorane dry shampoo which was selling for a despicable ten euros in a chic pharmacy.

Another highlight was visiting the Teatro Olimpico. Despite the creepy supervisor, who offered to take a photo of me against the stage but then escalated the situation into a fullblown, slightly awkward photo shoot, it was very interesting and has been preserved beautifully. It also had a cute gift shop.

I visited the Palladio musuem, and as I have found is often typical with Italian musuems in winter, I was the only visitor and the supervisors were more than plentiful. I was stalked around the museum by bored musuem attendants but still managed to learn a thing or two about Palladio and to take a sneaky shot here and there of the gilded ceilings.

It was a shame that the sun only decided to come out in Vicenza just as I was about to leave. With a few minutes to spare I darted back to some of the more beautiful sights and recaptured them showing off their full sun-kissed potential. I am glad I did, particularly in regards to Piazza dei Signori which had a beautiful array of brightly coloured houses sadly dulled by the gray sky tormented me. I managed to capture these houses just as how I like to imagine they would look in the height of summer: fun, bright, and so very romantic.




Stop number 3: Asolo

The main lesson I have learned about travelling in Italy in winter is that it is both a blessing and a curse.  Being able to eat at any restaurant you want, walk through close to empty streets without being bustled around and getting into museums immediately is great. However as someone who identifies as an extrovert it can be a bit demotivational visiting towns that are beautiful but with almost lifeless streets.

In Asolo I decided that if I could not enjoy the company of its presently non-existant population, except for the five inhabitants I ran into again and again in the space of three hours, then I would focus on communing with its nature, which was peaceful and dramatic. I hiked up to the remains of the castle on the highest point of the village known as the Rocca, then hiked down to the nunnery and graveyard of Saint Anna which had the most spectacular view and contained the grave of the amazing Italian Actress Elanora Duse. It is a fitting final resting place for a woman who so articulately valued the natural world:

"If the sight of the blue skies fills you with joy, if a blade of grass springing up in the fields has power to move you, if the simple things of nature have a message that you understand, rejoice, for your soul is alive..."

I ate broccoli and spinach ravioli, and rabbit for lunch, peered in the few expensive boutiques aimed for wealthy retirees that were open, and debated whether I did or did not have room left for gelato. I admired the tall towers of the city baking in the sun, creating many layers of spires and matching shadows set down the sides of its many slopes. I also enjoyed a glass of fresh orange juice at a tiny cafe full of elderly but impeccably groomed Italian ladies, and watched a bride in the most gorgeous winter weddingdress I have ever seen step out of a car and enter the Cattedrale with her family and friends.

In conclusion, forced to enjoy the nature more than I would have had it been any other time of year, the natural and structural aspects of Asolo provided an envigorating yet peaceful experience.