Adventures in the hills of Italy

Today is May 1, Labor Day in Italy, Feast of St. Joseph the Worker, and May Day in Russia. So the streets were packed with families out having fun today!

Castello di Thiene

We began the day with a bus trip to Castello di Thiene. This is a palazzo (small palace) in the center of the town of Thiene. It was a 15th Century fortress built in the middle of the country side. A village grew up around it and was named after the original owners of the fortress, Thiene. When Venice came to power they made all forts become castles because they said now Venice could protect them and they did not want fortifications that could be used against them. So this castle became a residence and has remained in use for all this time. Our tour guide knew the owners, so we got a special tour. It had many of the same aspects as Villa Emo. The best was the secret garden behind the palace and the gorgeous stables in a separate building. They had formerly raised horses to sell.

The horse stables

We proceeded to Marostica, another medieval town with an upper and lower castle. The main square has a gigantic chess board where they have chess tournaments with live people.

Our next stop was Bassano del Grappa. The town is famous for its production of Grappa (since 1898 under the label of Pali). But it was named after the battle of Mount Grappa in WWI. We saw more castles, frescoed buildings, three squares, the silver plated rhinoceros, and the Palladian Bridge over the river. We visited the Grappa Museum and saw a movie about how it is made using the dregs from wine making. We tasted a couple vintages and weren't too impressed! But, now we know! We had pizza for lunch.

The Palladian Bridge

It's been a long day and we need to pack and get up early for the next leg of our journey.