INDEX - PREV - NEXT

Day 5: Villa Emo, Asolo, Villa Barbaro


Padus to Asolo (foothills)

Padua to Castefranco

to Emo, Asolo, Barbaro

We had an early breakfast at 6:40 and were on the road by 7:30. Our bus took us up S307 to Castelfranco Veneto, where we made a brief rest stop, then went on to Villa Emo, the Palladian villa near the village of Fanzolo di Vedelago. We went from there to the pretty, mountainous (pre-Alpine) town of Asolo where we had a grilled chicken lunch with wine at the Ristorante Due Mori. After that we toured the Villa Barbaro near the town of Maser.

Villa Emo (1558)

These pictures are from the Centro Internazionale di Studi di Architettura Andrea Palladio Fondazione website. See their description of the villa here. It was a delightful place. The rooms were frescoed throughout in light, enjoyable scenes from Greek mythology, an invitation to pleasure at every turn.
Here are more scenes, from the IGARASHI Taro Photo Archives collection.
A few of my pictures from today, Villa Emo

Fresco at the entry

Mosaic at the entry

Our guide, Laura Papallo

View out the back door

Asolo, Prosecco, Ristorante Due Mori

We began at the fountain/piazza (lower center in the areal photo). From there we made our way up the street to the high, broad clock tower of the Casa Eleanora Duse, then to a small outdoor caffè (past the tower, to the far left of the photo) where we enjoyed a prosecco and their marvelous bathroom facility. I took some photos of the buildings and hills viewable from the veranda around the rear of the Duse house (upper right corner). After than we wandered back down to the Duomo (church, lower left, with tower), which was unfortunately closed, then back up the street and through some shops off to the upper right. Then we had a wonderful lunch on the canopied veranda overlooking those beautiful hills and the Padana Plain (Pianure) to the south. The picture to the left of the restaurant facade is looking back down the street from the restaurant's front door.
Wikipedia article: Asolo

Villa Barbaro (1554)

These pictures are from the Centro Internazionale di Studi di Architettura Andrea Palladio Fondazione website. See their description of the villa here. The frescoes were in many ways more sophisticated than those at Emo, but I thought the whole place was rather more somber, less fun. Maybe we were just tired, or stuffed from all the food and wine at lunch. At any rate, Karen and I spent a lot of time outside, under some trees, trying to play with two kittens who wouldn't come near us.
Here are more scenes, from the IGARASHI Taro Photo Archives collection.

Our return to Pauda took a long time because we got caught in an incredible bottleneck that was caused by the confluence of a soccer game, a wholesale flowersellers market and the opening of a new IKEA (first of its kind thereabouts). Damn Americans Swedes. Traffic was jammed on the freeway ramps, cars were parked everywhere. We were very happy to catch sight of il Santo.

Evening Lecture on Ravenna Mosaics

We had a light supper and then went to a great lecture on Ravenna Mosaics by Kirk Duclaux (kaduclaux [at] yahoo.com). Kirk is hardly typical of art professors; he could be a model. He studied at Syracuse University in Florence and now teaches for Syracuse, Vanderbilt and Oklahoma Universities in Florence . He came over from Firenze and gave us a wonderful lecture on mosaics - particularly their interaction with light. He's a great lecturer, including many funny asides as well as a wealth of facts. We'll be seeing lots of mosaics in Ravenna on Friday. photo source

INDEX - PREV - NEXT