Page 169 - (DK Eyewitness) Travel Guide - Venice & The Veneto

THE VENE T O AREA B Y AREA  167

THE VENETO PLAIN

The great arc of land that forms the Veneto Plain is one of
tremendous contrast, and has much to offer the visitor.
Its ancient cities are rich in history and their magnificent
architecture is world-renowned. The source of the region’s
wealth is manifest in the industrial landscapes around the
towns, but these are never far from beautiful countryside,
which includes the green Euganean Hills, calm lagoons and
the undulating vine-clad foothills of the stunning Dolomites.

The area known as the Veneto Plain Wealth from agriculture, commerce
sweeps round from the Po river delta and the spoils of war paid for the
in the southwest to the mountains that beautification of these cities through the
form the border between Italy and construction of Renaissance palaces and
Slovenia. The whole region is crossed by public buildings, many of them designed
a series of rivers, canals and waterways, by the region’s great architect, Andrea
all of which converge in the Adriatic Sea. Palladio. His villas can be seen all over
The river-borne silt deposits that the Veneto, symbols of the idyllic and
created the Venetian Lagoon cover the leisured existence once enjoyed by
region, making the land fertile. The the region’s aristocrats.
Romans established their frontier posts The symbols of modern prosperity –
here, and these survive today as the factories and scarred landscapes – are
great cities of Vicenza, Padua and Treviso. encountered frequently, especially
Their strategic position at the hub of the around the town of Mestre. Yet there
empire’s road network enabled them are areas of extraordinary beauty as well.
to prosper under Roman rule, as they Petrarch (see p188), the great medieval
continued to do under the benign rule Romantic poet, so loved the area that
of the Venetian empire more than he made his home among the gently
1,000 years later. wooded Euganean Hills.

The town of Bassano del Grappa, nestled in the Alps
Fresco depicting Christ in Paradise (1378) by Giusto de’ Menabuoi in the Baptistry, Padua

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