Venice Side-Trips: The Best of Veneto
This is a quick and handy source for details on the sights, hotels, tour guides and restaurants featured in the "Venice Side-Trips: The Best of Veneto" show. For much more (and updates), see this year's edition of Rick Steves' Venice guidebook.
Anatomy Theater
Europe's first great anatomy theater (from the 1500s) is worth a look if you have time for a tour. Despite the Church's strict ban on autopsies, students would pack this theater to watch professors dissect human cadavers. If the Church came a-knockin', the table could be flipped, allowing the corpse to fall into a river below and be replaced with an animal instead (€3, guided tours 3/day except Sun; Mon, Wed, and Fri at 15:15, 16:15, and 17:15; Tue, Thu, and Sat at 9:15, 10:15, and 11:15). Only 30 may enter at a time, and school groups often book the entire visit. To confirm tour times and availability, call 049-827-3047 or stop by the university bookstore, located inside Palazzo del Bo on the right side of courtyard. If the tour isn't booked, buy tickets from the bookstore 15 minutes before the visit. The tours take 45 minutes and include stops at the anatomy theater, Aula Magna (grand meeting hall plastered with the crests of important faculty), and Galileo's cattedra (lectern).
Scrovegni Chapel
Reserve in advance to see this glorious, recently renovated chapel, wallpapered with Giotto's beautifully preserved cycle of nearly 40 frescoes, depicting scenes from the lives of Jesus and Mary.
Painted by Giotto and his assistants from 1303 to 1305, and considered by many to be the first piece of modern art, this work makes it clear: Europe was breaking out of the Middle Ages. A sign of the Renaissance to come, Giotto placed real people in real scenes, expressing real human emotions. These frescoes were radical for their 3-D nature, lively colors, light sources, emotion, and humanism.
The chapel was built out of guilt for white-collar crimes. Reginaldo degli Scrovegni charged sky-high interest rates at a time when that practice was forbidden by the church. He even caught the attention of Dante, who placed him in one of the levels of hell in his Inferno. When Reginaldo died, the Church denied him a Christian burial. His son Enrico tried to buy forgiveness for his father's sins by building this superb chapel. After seeing Giotto's frescoes for the Franciscan monks of St. Anthony, Enrico knew he'd found the right artist to decorate the interior (€12 entry fee for 15-minute visits includes Civic Museum and Multimedia Room; in summer after 19:00, 15-minute visits are €8 and 30-minute visits are €12 (visits don't include Civic Museum, which is closed then). The chapel is open daily 9:00–22:00 in summer, until 19:00 in off-season (people are allowed in every 15 min at :00, :15, :30, and :45 past the hour during the day, every half hour in eve, last entry 15 min before closing).
Olympic Theater
Palladio's last work is one of his greatest. It was commissioned by the Olympic Academy, a society of Vicenzan scholars and intellectuals (including Palladio), for the purpose of staging performances and intellectual debates. Begun in 1580, shortly before Palladio died, the theater was actually completed by a fellow architect, Scamozzi.
Modeled after the theaters of antiquity, this is a wood-and-stucco festival of classical columns, statues, and an oh-wow stage bursting with perspective tricks. Behind the stage, framed by a triumphal arch, five streets recede at different angles. The streets, depicting the idealized form of the city of Thebes, were created for the gala opening of Oedipus Rex, the first play ever performed in the theater and now a tradition for every season.
Many of the statues in niches on the stage are modeled after the people who funded the work — junior members are portrayed as Roman soldiers of antiquity, senior members as senators. The panels at the top show the labors of Hercules, in keeping with the classical antiquity theme that was all the rage in the 16th century. In contrast to the stunning stage, the audience's wooden benches are simple and crude (covered by €8 Biglietto Unico; dense 45-min audioguide-€3, or €5 for two; Tue–Sun 9:00–17:00, closed Mon, July–Aug until 19:00, last entry 15 min before closing, entrance to the left of TI, WC just past the ticket booth on the right, tel. 0444-222-800).
Zi Teresa
Zi Teresa is popular among locals for its romantic ambience and moderately priced traditional cuisine and pizzas (Thu–Tue 11:45–14:30 & 18:30–23:00, closed Wed, a couple blocks southwest of Piazza dei Signori, Contrà S. Antonio 1, at intersection with Contrà Proti, tel. 0444-321-411).
Oreste dal Zovo Wine Bar
Run by enthusiastic Oreste and his Chicagoan wife Beverly, is a fun, local wine-and-grappa bar. There's no formal food, but an abundance of fun and hearty bar snacks. This historic enoteca was once the private chapel of the archbishop of Verona, and hiding between the bottles are traces of its past — ask Beverly to tell you the story. In addition to the wines, you can pick up high-quality aged balsamic vinegars from Modena and extra-virgin olive oils (March–Dec daily 8:00–20:00, closed Mon Jan-Feb, cash only, no chairs — just a couple of benches; it's on the alley — Vicolo San Marco in Foro 7 — off Porta Borsari, just a block from Piazza Erbe; tel. 045-803-4369).
Ca' de Ven
Ristorante-Enoteca Ca' de Ven (House of Wine) fills a 16th-century warehouse with locals enjoying quality wine and traditional cuisine. Piadina (peeah-DEE-nah) dominates the menu. An unleavened bread that kids are raised on here, it's served with cheese and prosciutto. Try their dessert specialty — torta di marzipan — made exclusively for them by a local bakery. This decadent almond-and-cocoa brownie is best with sweet red wine (Tue–Sat 12:00–14:00 & 19:00–22:00, Sun 17:30–22:15, closed Mon, 2-min walk from Piazza del Popolo on Via Cairoli which turns into Via C. Ricci, Via C. Ricci 24, tel. 0544-30163).