Vicenza: A Palladian Basilica a wonderful exhibition and a delicious appetizer.

photograph by Manfredi Bellati

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Vicenza: The Basilica Palladiana. After a massive restoration, that lasted five years that transformed the Basilica Palladiana into a modern cultural center  which re-opens to the public with a great exhibition, called Raphael to Picasso.  The Basilica Palladiana is a Renaissance building in the central Piazza dei Signori in Vicenza, near Venice. It was originally constructed in the 15th century and was known as the Palazzo della Ragione.  It was the seat of government and also housed a number of shops on the ground floor. When part of the building collapsed in the sixteenth century, the Council of One Hundred commissioned many architects to submit designs and selected Palladio to reconstruct the building in 1549. Palladio added a new outer-shell of marble classical forms; a loggia and a portico that now obscure the original Gothic architecture.

 photograph by Manfredi Bellati

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The Basilica Palladiana - a detail.  The Basilica was an expensive project and took a long time to complete. Palladio received an income for the work during most of his life. Only in 1614 - thirty years after his death - did the building stand complete. 

 

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The Basilica Palladiana. The most notable feature of the edifice is the loggia, which shows one of the first examples of the what came to be known as the Palladian window, designed by a young Andrea Palladio, whose work in architecture was to have a significant effect on the field during the Renaissance and later periods.

Vicenza: The Basilica Palladiana – Raffaello Verso Picasso – “Stories of eyes, faces and figures” exhibition. Considered by far one of the most important art events in Italy, the Raffaello to Picasso exhibition, until January 1, brings together more than one hundred masterpieces from around the world in a unique exhibition in the Basilica Palladiana in the center of Vicenza. Curated by Marco Goldin, it tells the story of the portrait and the figure from '400 to '900 through the works of famous artists, like: Fra 'Angelico, Botticelli, Mantegna, Bellini, Giorgione, Raphael, Titian, Dürer, and again Rubens, Caravaggio, Van Dyck, Rembrandt, Velázquez, El Greco, Goya, Tiepolo up to the Impressionists from Manet to Van Gogh, Renoir, Gauguin, Cézanne to Monet and the great painters of the twentieth century with works from Munch, Picasso, Matisse, Modigliani and Bonnard and then Giacometti, Balthus, Bacon and Freud.

Contessanally note: I was most surprised, for such an important exhibition, not to find one caption or text in English and even the catalogue was only available in Italian.

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Vicenza: Da Renzo – Assortimento tartine.   After the wonderful exhibition, to crown the perfect morning just around the corner from the Basilica in the Contrada Frasche del Gambero 16 a much needed stop and aperitivo in the small bar Da Renzo. We celebrated Vicky Ceschi a Santa Croce’s birthday with an assortment of small appetizers, or tartine, so moist and tasty, to die for.

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Da Renzo. The small bar is a historic reference point for the locals, a sort of Venetian “baccaro” in the Vicentino style where the cicchetti are replaced by tartine and served by Monica, who was very shy of the camera.

 

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Da Renzo.  Just one of the many assortments of open-faced tartine, made with prosciutto, and garnished with homemade mayonnaise and an olive on a soft and moist white bun.

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