Experience the best of Vicenza

Vicenza lies between Verona and Padua, on the plain below the Berici hills, and its centre is a World Heritage site for the buildings Palladio designed in the sixteenth century. The Basilica Palladiana, with two storeys of arched loggias, overlooks the main square, Piazza dei Signori, and the palaces along Corso Palladio, such as Palazzo Thiene and Palazzo Barbaran da Porto, show how he adapted Roman ideas to the city.

The Teatro Olimpico, begun by Palladio in 1580 and finished after his death, has a permanent stage set of painted streets in forced perspective. On a hill south of the centre, the Villa Capra, called La Rotonda, is a square villa with a dome and four porticoes, and the pilgrimage Basilica of Monte Berico looks over the city. Marostica and Bassano del Grappa, with its covered wooden bridge, lie to the north, and the Asiago plateau and Dolomite foothills beyond.

Baccalà alla vicentina, stockfish simmered with onions, milk and anchovies, is the city's signature, and bigoli, thick spaghetti, is served with duck sauce. Local soppressa salami, Asiago cheese, white asparagus from Bassano and grappa fill the menus; Gambellara and Colli Berici wines accompany them. Spring is lovely and summers are warm.