Veneto

Whether it was a sightseeing trip, a business journey or a passage towards another destination, I have been to this region many times. After all, the capital of Veneto is Venice, which, if not the most beautiful city in the world, is certainly unique of its kind. I do not think there is a more fascinating city among the many I have visited, because here land and sea are wedded: instead of roads there are canals, along which stand marvellous palazzi with precious architecture, full of terraces and mullioned or three-light windows. It is a museum-city, beautiful to explore in every way — aboard the boats that from the square by the railway station plough the Grand Canal as far as St Mark's Square, or on foot, strolling through narrow alleys where a delightful little square awaits us at every corner.

But the most magical places for me are the stretch of the Grand Canal just after passing under the splendid Rialto Bridge and St Mark's Square with its columns, the Basilica, the Doge's Palace and its other majestic monuments. But in Venice you are enchanted by the atmosphere too, even when exploring the most hidden alleys or the narrowest canals, where only a gondola can pass. Immersed in a cosmopolitan crowd of tourists or surrounded by a flock of pigeons in St Mark's Square, this city leaves us spellbound. A less superficial visit can lead to the discovery of its most hidden treasures, its museums and churches.

During a recent trip I bought the card that allowed me to visit the museums housed in the Procuratie Nuove, those located inside the old Military Arsenal where the fleets of the Serenissima that dominated the Eastern Mediterranean were built, and the eighteenth-century collection of a noble household such as Ca' Rezzonico. But you cannot come here and limit yourself to seeing the Cathedral's façade from outside; you must go in to fill your eyes with the many mosaics that cover every wall. You can also climb up to admire the famous bronze horses, spoils of war from Constantinople, or, as I once did, go right to the top of the isolated St Mark's bell tower to see the city from above. From there you better understand how Venice is an island city in the middle of the lagoon, formed by hundreds of islets intersected by canals large and small.

But the Doge's Palace too deserves a visit, if only to cross the famous Bridge of Sighs that gives access to its grim prisons. If you then venture beyond the city with the lagoon ferries, you can reach smaller islands such as Murano, where I have been twice, to watch the art of glass-blowing in an old workshop, or the long, modern island of the Lido, where the famous Film Festival is held every year. Venice, however, is expensive, and it is worth staying elsewhere, for example in anonymous Mestre or in Chioggia, on the other shore of the lagoon, a town of canals and bridges with a fishing tradition. But the most interesting thing would be to leave the car on the Riviera del Brenta and reach Venice's Piazzale Roma by public transport, to board one of the boats that shuttle between here and St Mark's Square.

During the crossing you can admire the neoclassical architecture of Palladio's villas and pass riverside villages whose bell towers are miniatures of St Mark's. A stone's throw from the Brenta is Padua, a city worth a visit not only for the Basilica of St Anthony but also for a fine historic centre dominated by the majestic Palazzo della Ragione in Piazza delle Erbe, as well as the marble façade of Caffè Pedrocchi and the Parco della Valle, a circular green square surrounded by classical statues. In the province of Padua I have been to the Abano thermal baths and drove around the walls of Montagnana while travelling for work towards Casale di Scodosia. The province of Rovigo is certainly less interesting; there I visited the capital, Badia Polesine and some villages along the bank of the Po such as Bergantino and Melara.

Decidedly more interesting is Vicenza, whose historic centre, within a few hundred metres, preserves numerous Palladian buildings and a wooden theatre well worth visiting. In its province I have been to Breganze, Thiene, Valdagno and Trissino, but the only place worth the trip is Bassano del Grappa, with a fine historic centre and its famous covered bridge. Verona is famous throughout the world for the story of Juliet and Romeo, but the city offers much more than the house with the balcony where the two lovers met in secret and the so-called tomb of Juliet. In Verona there is above all the Arena, so well preserved that it is still a venue for performances, and the ancient Piazza delle Erbe. Its province contains the eastern part of Lake Garda, on whose shore, near Peschiera, lies Gardaland, Italy's largest amusement park and the destination of many of my visits.

Part of the province of Belluno is a splendid stretch of the Dolomites, considered among the most beautiful mountains in the world. In the Veneto portion of these mountains are the Pordoi and Falzarego passes, linked by a road with spectacular views. After the Falzarego the road descends to Cortina d'Ampezzo, Italy's most important winter resort, which was also an Olympic host. A few kilometres from the town is Misurina, a jewel set among splendid mountains and lapped by the alpine lake of the same name. From here a toll road leads to a mountain hut from which I completed the full circuit of a path that goes around the Tre Cime di Lavaredo, perhaps the most beautiful mountain of the Dolomites, half of which belongs to Trentino-Alto Adige.