Monday and Tuesday, April 29 & 30, have been spent taking side trips from Castelfranco Veneto. We have a delightful local tour guide, Wilma, who is an architect and knows everything about early architecture and art. Monday she led us on a visit to Villa Emo, which is just 8 km north of here.
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| Don and the walls of Castelfranco Veneto |
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| Suzanne in front of Villa Emo |
Villa Emo was built for the Emo family (and stayed in their hands until just recently) by the famous architect, Palladio. He was an innovative architect who liked symmetry in his buildings. The Villa was a farm house, but built in a grand style. Every room is decorated by frescoes which tell a story about the family who lived there through relating them to Roman mythology and history. Monticello was built using the same principles as this Villa.
On Tuesday we visited Possagno, about 25 km north-west of here. This is the home of the architect/artist, Antonio Canova, born in 1757. We saw the church, Tempio Canoviano, which looks just like the Pantheon, but was designed by him. Then we went to the Gypsotheca which is a museum of his work built next to his home. He did very interesting sculptures out of plaster. He felt that was the best medium for his work. He was a neoclassicist.
We also visited Asolo, the town where Catarina Cornaro, a member of one of the ruling families of Venice, ruled. It is a small town in the hills, not too far from Possagno. It is basically one street with a small square and fountain and a traffic light! It is a popular spot for a week end visit and has hosted many famous people such as Robert Browning and Ernest Hemingway. We saw more palazzos (little palaces), a Rocko (castle-fortress), the Cathedral with a painting by Lorenzo Lotto, and the Town Hall.
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| Asolo |
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