PRIVATE PADUA & THE VENETIAN VILLAS

PADOVA & LE VILLE VENETE

Všeobecné informace

Destinace	Délka
,	8 hodiny

Detaily programu

Highlights
• Private professional English speaking driver-escort
• Transportation by air-conditioned minivan
• Enjoy a walking tour of Padua: St. Anthony’s Basilica, Historic Centre, the Scrovegni Chapel and its tiny church with its famous Giotto frescoes, dated from the beginning of XIV° century
• Visit two of the most famous Venetian Villas: Palladi's Villa Pisani and Villa Widmann
• You can admire the Palladian Villa Foscari (outdoor visit) called ‘La Malcontenta’

Description of the tour
In the morning, your private driver-escort will take you to visit Padua, city with a rich historical, architectural and artistic heritage. Your will have free time to discover Cappella degli Scrovegni with its priceless frescoes by Giotto, Chiesa degli Eremitani with frescoes by Mantegna, Palazzo della Regione, rebuilt to Michelangelo’s design and with the largest suspended room of the world, the historic Café Pedrocchi, a symbol of the 19th Century Padua, and Saint Anthony Basilica with Mantegna’s works and Donatello’s magnificent reliefs. Nearby, you will see the charming Prato della Valle, one of the largest and most unusual squares in Europe with its elliptical shape and island in the middle. Optional lunch in a restaurant in the town centre.
The journey continues along the ‘Riviera del Brenta’ where the most imposing Venetian Villas are situated. These villas, sign of the power of Venice of the 16th and 17th centuries, were built in the mainland as summer country residences by the great families of Venice and have fascinated the whole world. Right at the entrance to Myra, the main city on the Riviera del Brenta, lies the Villa Widmann Foscari. Built in the 18th century and bought by the Widmann family 50 years later, it was completely redesigned in French rococo style. Various famous figures in history and art had the pleasure of staying here as guests of the Widmanns: the great playwright Carlo Goldoni, the Russian composer Igor Stravinsky and the Italian writer Gabriele D’Annunzio. The next stop is in Stra to visit Villa Pisani by Andrea Palladio, called also the "Little Versailles". You will admire the park with its pools, orangeries, stables and icehouse, and inside the villa frescoes by Tiepolo. This villa was once visited by Napoleon and was the setting of the historic meeting between Hitler and Mussolini in 1934.
Returning to Venice, you can admire from the car the Palladian Villa Foscari called ‘La Malcontenta’, the malcontent. The villa owes its name to a legend telling how one of the ladies of the house Foscari was condemned to solitude within its walls to serve his sentence for vicious behaviour.