Villa Rovero (S.Zenone)

SAN ZENONE DEGLI EZZELINI the building is on top of a long set of steps with large seven-arch loggias propped up Villa Rovero which split in two a large cedar grove. It by thin columns. Both wings end with a In San Zenone’s town centre do not miss is composed of a main three-storey body square plan tower. 20 the imposing Villa Rovero 10: with a balcony and by two long wings The Villa belonged to the Di Rovero family, one of the noble families who June 1728 and 1750, the chapel was the eastern ‘barchessa’ was torn down to had played a crucial role in the history completed in the summer 1735 and build the ‘Peschiera’*. of the ‘Marca’ since the 11th century. the western ‘barchessa’ was rebuilt and *Peschiera: also ‘pesciera’. Country The original shape of their mansion is extended northwards. houses usually had rectangular fish unknown. The works were completed at the end The main building must have looked of the 18th century with the new cedar ponds where fishes were bred to sustain more or less like the extant one: the grove at the foot of the building. the family food requirements. central part was probably the same, but In those years the villa became a centre it was longer. The original building also of culture and science. MOUNT GRAPPA included a little church, placed at the Several important people were The Mausoleum farther eastern end of the open space lodged here, like for example the on top of the hill and subsequently Riccati brothers, two well-known You now have to travel backwards towards incorporated; two ‘barchesse’ to the east mathematicians from Castelfranco Crespano and : next stop and the west; a rear courtyard and a , architect Francesco Maria Preti, is Mount Grappa from whose top you will pigeon tower to the north-east. the historian Giambattista Verci from be able to admire an amazing view and The traditional Venetian interior has, Bassano, the famous publisher Giuseppe to visit the well-known Mausoleum of both on the ground and first floor, a Remondini, the poet Jacopo Vittorelli Cima Grappa 11. The easiest way to get double central hall with 18-century from Bassano. The villa played a crucial there is through the province of Vicenza: frescoes and decorations depicting role in the political, social and most of you will have to cross the ‘border’ and landscapes and mythological and all economic life of the period: inside its symbolical characters like those Paolo walls land and house rent contracts were go to Romano d’Ezzelino where it will be Veronese painted in Maser for the sealed and harvests were estimated. easy to find the road that goes up from the Barbaro family. In the middle of the 20th century the town centre (or going up from Borso along The towers were erected between building underwent the last changes: a road called ‘Generale Giardino’). 21 Mount Grappa The Mausoleum (Monte Grappa)

It is about 28 Km from the city centre to The plan was by architect Giovanni leading to the already mentioned Portal. the top of the mountain. Greppi and sculptor Gianni Castiglioni. The basement of the central building is The slope of the road will not prevent The imposing building aimed at providing made of five 4-metre-high concentric you from enjoying a pleasant journey a sense of perspective with ‘Portale Roma’ circles separated from each other by a in which tree shade alternates with the and the Observatory as fulcra. 10-metre-wide level corridor*. view of the plain below. The monument is indeed composed of Further on you can see the ‘Way of The Memorial on top of Mount Grappa two parts: the central body, where the Heroes’: a path with a number of ‘cippi’ was built in 1935 to honour the Fallen of remains of 12’615 Italian soldiers are kept (stones) recording the places where the 22 the First World War. and the 250-metre-long ‘Way of Heroes’ battles to defend the Grappa took place. It ends in ‘Portale Roma’, on whose top the SANT’EULALIA Observatory was built. The church In the balcony you can find a bronze plan Going back towards Crespano you will showing the various battlefields and the pass by a small village called Sant’Eulalia, battle front in June 1918. which developed all around the neoclassic If you take a look around you will see the church 12 bearing that same name. large Venetian plain stretching south to the Walking up the entrance steps you will Lagoon and north to the Dolomites reach a large polychrome parterre with in the Alps chain. geometrical patterns. The façade is characterised by four large *The remains of 10.332 unknown soldiers Corinthian columns raising from high were placed in common urns, which plinths. If you look up when crossing the alternate with those of the identified threshold, you will see an imposing large The church (S.Eulalia) soldiers, alphabetically ordered and loggia with an organ* created by Gaetano marked with rank and decorations. Callido, a well-known 18th-century master *The organ had actually been made for the Tourist Information: organist. Parish church in and there it was The Mausoleum In the vestry you can also see Caio placed on 1st August 1797. Tel. +39 0423 544840 Vettonio’s sarcophagus. He was a In 1826 the church was torn down to Roman veteran of Gens Fabia and his make space for Canova’s temple and the sarcophagus was found during the organ was saved and moved to its present demolition of San Cassiano’s ancient location. ‘pieve’ in the middle of the 18th century. 23 Peter and Paul and the canvas depicting Saint Luis Gonzaga. Girolamo da Ponte, As you enter Crespano you will find a Jacopo Da Ponte’s son, painted the canvas 19th-century building, which is now in the altars by the choir with Saint Francis the town hall, on your left; the former receiving the stigmata on Mount Verna. spinning factory; and, finally, Ca’ The Virgin with Saint Rocco and Saint Mantovani Orsetti by the bend. Sebastian on the opposite side is ascribed to Paolo Veronese. Over the entrance door The Duomo 13 you can see Antonio Molinari’s canvas In the main square of the village you can depicting the transfer of Saint Marck’s see the cathedral dedicated to Saint Mark, body; nearby is Antonio Canova’s plaster Pancras and Paul. It was planned by the Deposition from the Cross; the frescoes already-mentioned well-known architect on the walls depicting several saints are by Giorgio Massari: the works started in the well-known painter Giovanni Demin 1735 and finished in 1762. Works by from Belluno. In the vestry you can see world-famous artists are to be found inside Alessandro Maganza’s Emmaus Dinner the church: both the fresco on the nave and a 15th-century fresco depicting ceiling, depicting Christ’s Ascension and Saint Prosdocimo. Inside the church the Cardinal Virtues and the round-shaped there are other valuable works, like the fresco on the presbytery ceiling are by confessionals after drawings by Massari, Jacopo Guarana, from Tiepolo’s school. the Baptistery and the walnut stalls in the He also made the chiaroscuro paintings presbytery. at the end of the church, the oil of canvas Leaving the village you can see Ca’ Martini The Duomo (Crespano del Grappa) 24 depicting Saint Mark, Pancras with Saint on your left. The building is also called Former Royal Palace 14 because Umberto of Savoia Aosta spent some time here during the First World War; it is now a documentary centre about the Great War. Just outside the village you can see the church of the Madonna ‘del Covolo’ 15 . where Nogarè’s aedicule now is, was funded in the second half of the 12th century to celebrate the apparition of the Virgin Mary to a young death-and-dumb The church of the Madonna ‘del Covolo’ Villa Filippin Fietta (Paderno d.G.) shepherdess. (Crespano del Grappa) The present shrine was built between Grappa. The entrance to the path on the Clay excavation has been one of the 1804 and 1809 and it was a plan by villa is supported by a pair of ashlar pillars most important activities of the region Canova, who had the Roman pantheon surmounted by spheres. for decades, as the excavated hillsides in mind. The chiaroscuro Apparition on From here you can enjoy a charming view show. If you want to visit Saint Justine’s the gable is also by Canova. of the building. church 17 , leave Possagno’s centre and Villa Filippin Fietta 16 is a an important The road follows the hills and after one keep going down along the road. noble mansion which was erected in the or two hairpin bends leads onto the The tiny church stands where two valleys 6th century and then Valcavasia. You will immediately see the meet in what used to be a wooded restored in the 18th century by architect white mass of Canova’s temple in the mountain pass, where Roman ruins are still Massari. If you want to see it, you have distance, while lower to the right you can to be found. to follow the directions to Paderno del see several kilns and brick factories. This is probably the oldest holy building in 25 POSSAGNO Canova’s City The Canovian ‘Gypsotheca’* and the Temple of Possagno are in the city centre.

The Gypsotheca 18 Architect Francesco Lazzari built the Gypsotheca as a museum devoted to Canova. The client was the popular sculptor’s brother, Mons. Giovanni Battista Sartori, who wanted all of the manuscripts, drawings, sketches and plaster casts that Canova had left in his atelier in Rome moved to a suitable place, close to Canova’s birth place. The war badly damaged the collection: Saint Justine’s church (Possagno) some plaster casts were completely destroyed and others were badly Possagno: its presence is recorded in 1172 scratched and damaged, so that it was but it might be even earlier. only after years of accurate restoration that It has a single nave and the apse faces the ‘Gypsotheca’ was opened again (1922). East, which is a typical feature of ancient At the break of the Second World War the The Gypsotheca (Possagno) 26 Christian churches. statues were loaded on twenty-seven oxen wagons and taken to Possagno’s Temple, where they remained until 1946. The museum now comprises several exhibition areas which were made out of buildings from different ages: the 19th- century Wing by Lazzari, which is a three- arch large basilica; the Scarpa Wing, which the Monument Office commissioned to architect Carlo Scarpa in 1955 in order to have a suitable place for the new Canovian acquisitions and the valuable terracotta Scarpa Wing-The Gypsotheca (Possagno) A sculpture by Canova (Possagno) works: such masterpieces as Amore and Psyche, the Dancers and the Three Graces The Temple 19 Rome; the apse of the main altar, which is are on display here; the former stable Its white mass on top of a hill stands out six-step higher than the other two elements which is now used for exhibitions; Canova’s clearly against the green mountains which and which was a typical feature of ancient house, built in the 17th century and surrounds it. It stands on a square made Christian basilicas. These three elements, restored in the 18th century by Canova of multicolour cobblestones arranged in coexisting without frictions, are the symbols himself, who added the ‘Torretta’ (little geometrical patterns, which is the work of of three different ages: the Greek civilisation, tower), which he used as painting atelier, architect Giuseppe Segusini from Feltre. the Latin culture and the Christian grandeur. and then again in the 19th century when This imposing neoclassical building is Canova (1757-1822) planned the building, the Hall of Mirrors was created. characterised by three elements, one inside but it was Giovanni Zardo, a relative of his, The New wing of the Museum was built the other: the Doric colonnade inspired who carried out the works. The first stone in 1992 and is used for conferences and by that of the Parthenon in Athens; the was set in place on 11th July 1819, and contemporary art exhibitions. central body, inspired by the Pantheon in notwithstanding the planner’s death, it was 27 finished in 1830, visited by Viceré Ranieri later that year and consecrated on 6th May 1832. Inside the 8-metre-thick wall of the building corridors and staircases to the upper floors and the dome were ingeniously devised. If you look at the gable over the pronaos**, you can see seven metopes *** depicting scenes of the Old and the New Testament: there should have been 27 of those, but Canova died before he could finish the work. A number of valuable works are kept inside the Temple: as you enter you will see the altar of Saint Francis of Paola with an altar- piece by Luca Giordano (1634-1705) on your right; the Canovian metopes depicting the Creation of the World and the Creation of Man on the two sides; the large niche with Canova’s Piety, which, however, was not turned into a statue and was then melted in bronze by Bartolomeo Ferrari. Walking on, you will reach an altar with a canvas depicting Jesus praying in the Olive 28 Garden by Palma the Young (1544-1628); TheThe canovian canovian Temple Temple (Possagno) (Possagno) and two models for the metopes depicting self-portrait and a portrait of his stepbrother Giovanni Battista Sartori by Cincinnato sides. The main altar stands opposite the Baruzzi. Over the last altar there is a entrance door: Canova’s Deposition, which Madonna with Child and Saints, by Andrea had originally been placed in the parish Vicentino (1539-1617), and two metopes church, was moved here after the Temple depicting Charity and the Presentation in the Temple to the sides. The walls are covered Canova’s master, stand at both sides of the with frescoes depicting the Apostles by ciborium****. Giovanni Demin. Walking on, you will see the altar of the Madonna of the Mercede by Pordenone *Gypsotheca: collection of plaster casts. (1483-1539) with another two metopes **Pronao: colonnade. The canovian Temple (Possagno) depicting the Annunciation and Saint Mary ***Metope: decorations. and Saint Elizabeth’s visit at its sides. ****Ciborio: marble aedicule supported by Before reaching , In a large niche next to the latter you can see four columns and containing the altar. by Caniezza, you will meet Obledo the artist’s grave; he died in Venice when Tourist information: ‘Colmello’ 20, which comprises two the building of the Temple had just started. Gypsotheca Tel. +39 0423 544323 beautiful ancient villas: Villa Bianchi His body was embalmed: his heart and right Temple Tel. +39 0423 544040 Premoli and Villa Bianchi Sertorio. The hand remained in Venice, while the rest of his body arrived in Possagno two weeks later colmello’s* economic life seemed to and was temporarily laid down in an urn in depend on a blacksmith workshop and, the old church. later, on the use of the latter as a fulling It was taken to the Temple in 1830. stock. Wool craft and dyeing were indeed Next to the grave you can see the artist’s very common in these neighbourhoods. 29 erected in little more than four months to the memory of the Fallen of the First World War. The face wall of the church can slide on lines/tracks and the whole church can open to the outside.

*Colmello: in the Middle Ages it was a little independent state, in other words a ‘rule’.

CASTELCUCCO ‘Obledo’ Colmello (Caniezza) S. Bartholomew’s Oratory (Castelcucco)

In Cavaso the ‘Lords of wool’ owned As you enter the Vallograna towards Saint Bartholomew, who is celebrated the the best houses, among which there are Catelcucco, you will find directions to 24th August, the day in which the Ezzelini the two already mentioned villas, both Saint Bartholomew’s Oratory 22, tyranny ended. Travelling through the belonging to the heirs of the Bianchi a charming sacred building from before woods, you will reach Castelcucco and family. Further on there is Cavaso del 1000 A.D. with Longobard origins and , where the valley Tomba centre with the town hall and the which is now almost hidden by hazelnut widens into meadows. Walking up one Inn ‘Alla Posta’ overlooking the square. trees. The extant church has a hexagonal of these, you will see the little church of You can start here the climbing of Mount plan dating from the 18th century, while Saint Lucy, a small isolated Romanesque Tomba, on whose top you will find the the bell tower dates from 1862. building. To the right are Villa Perusini little Alpine Church 21, a small It was once dedicated to the Saint and Saint Francis’s Oratory 23, both 30 building planned by architect Celotto and Apostles, but in 1269 it was dedicated to by architect Giorgio Massari. An arched Saint Lucy’s Church (Castelcucco) Villa Perusini (Castelcucco) Saint Francis’s Oratory (Castelcucco) underpass leads to the rear courtyard: it is from where you can enjoy a charming view also interesting: it was built on the ruins of the sheltered passage-way which connected of the surrounding hills. Maltraverso’s castle and dedicated to Saint the villa to its church and it was built because The work was commissioned to architect John the Baptist. The ancient suburb around what now looks like a little private path, Scamozzi in 1594, but he had only the the church seems to have been a Templars’ western part built because the client’s used to be the main municipal road linking station in the 12th century and the vestry is Castelcucco to Paderno. Nobody lives in the death forced him to stop the works. said to have been erected on the ruins of a villa today, but Napoleon Bonaparte spent The villa became the property of the church belonging to the Knights. some time here and until 2001 it was the Scotti family and it was finished in the The Torretti family, including excellent house of writer Sergio Saviane. From here 18th century. By the house is a ‘barchessa’ you can take a walk in the hills with a rare stone colonnade supporting sculptors who were to become Canova’s until you get to Villa Corniani Scotti a wooden architrave. At the back is Saint masters, started here. Some of their works Bardellini 24, a beautiful Venetian villa, Rocco’s Oratory. Pagnano’s local church is are kept inside the parish church. 31