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 from the 16th and 17th centuries and more ceiling frescoes. The Madonna by Il Veronese is especially nice. We are also  lucky because the Crucifixion by Hayez is on loan from the Museo Diocesano di Milano. Splendid!

We have a quick look at the attic floor where there are books and sketches but by now we are flagging and are happy to head to Righetti again.

It is raining and cold and damp so we need a table inside and at first the restaurant – made up of a labyrinth of small rooms, seems full, but a friendly waitress we saw the day before finds us a table.

We both have pork stew with onions and prunes which is absolutely delicious, an enormous plate of peperonata and baked vegetables, water and wine for 27 euros.

But we dare not linger, people are waiting in the hope of a table so we leave in search of coffee. Pigafetta café which is a real heaven for coffee and tea connoisseurs is just around the corner and has tables and seats in the cosy interior so we drink our coffee in peace there. It has gone much cooler and it was warm in the cafè so we walk quite briskly to the Teatro Olimpico, the most important sight to see in Vicenza. We get there just before two o’clock when most people are still lunching and for about ten minutes can enjoy the theatre in solitude. It’s nice. We saw a tiny theatre both in Mondavio and in Sabbioneta, and of the three perhaps Sabbioneta for tiny perfection would win. The perspective behind the stage is impressive but the columns and the statues seem a little dusty, although they are impressive. A group comes in, with a tired guide about my age who reminds me of teachers, my age, who have lost their youthful enthusiasm. The teenage students aren’t making any noise but I get the impression nobody is listening either and I wonder if they had a big lunch. At one point she accuses somebody of napping. We are all woken up by the arrival of a livelier group of younger students and anyway at 2.30 there is the light show. Nice, some dawn/sunset/ storm effects. It lasts 6 and a half minutes. We make our way out stopping to admire the frescoes in the Odeo area.

We now have a big decision to make. Our Vicenza silver card is for four ‘sights’ and we have seen three. The plan was for the Chiesa di Santa Corona to be the last because we were going up to the roof bar of the terrace at Basilica Palladiana on Sunday. But we didn’t, because we were too tired. So, now, which: the church, which has a number of things we are going to like, but to come to Vicenza and not go up the Basilica Palladiana seems a little scandalous? Or just pay the extra? We stand in the porch area just outside the church door discussing what to do when something magic happens. A magic wand is waved and we are taken through a different entrance, via a pretty cloister and into the church, with no tickets involved. Shh. I promised not to tell. But it is one of those amazing happenings which make travel so fantastic.

Anyway, the painting by Giovanni Bellini “Il battesimo di Cristo” really is beautiful and did you now that the Rome and Juliet story really took place in Montecchio Maggiore, whose castle towers are visible in the painting. And did you know that in another splendid painting in the church “L’adorazione dei Magi” by Paolo Veronese the baby is worried because one of the kings is tickling his toes?

We are also impressed by the splendid High Altar dating from 1670, with polychrome inlays of precious marbles and mother-of-pearl to show religious scenes. Behind that, the carved and inlaid wooden choir, showing objects and scenes of life in Vicenza is also beautiful. Below in the crypt is the Cappella Valmarana designed by Palladio.

We say good-bye to our friend and slip out, under the disapproving gaze of the gentleman in the ticket office. Yes, you should absolutely visit this church if you are in Vicenza!

It is spitting with rain a little but our penultimate stop is the Basilica Palladiana, impressive and with beautiful views even if it is raining, indeed, like an enormous external cloister, it makes a good place to walk our rounds. 

It’s damp and chilly so we are fully justified to sit down for a while at Pasticceria Veneziana for coffee and Zaeti biscuits before our last stroll back to the apartment.