Vicenza in May Day 3 - Palazzo Chiericati museum, Teatro Olimpico, Santa Corona church, Basilica Palladiana
The weather forecast for Tuesday is threatening but we manage to get to the Civic Art Gallery of Palazzo Chiericati for 10 o’clock without getting drenched. The Palazzo is another spectacular civilian residence designed by Palladio. The visit starts on the ground floor with the Hall of the Firmament and the Hall of Hercules where the ceiling frescoes are embellished with stucco and grotesques. The next room hosts seven lunettes which tell the story of the city's golden age between the 16th and 17th centuries, under the rule of the Serenissima, a little gloomy really and not our favourite period of art. The medieval section starts on the first floor and we slow down here because there are some fine paintings. This is followed by the rooms dedicated to Bartolomeo Montagna and finally a large room recreating the destroyed church of San Bartolomeo where there are important altarpieces by Montagna, Cima da Conegliano, and Giovanni Bonconsiglio. The second floor houses paintings ...
