Padova

Although a mere 30-minute drive from Vicenza, Padova to me was mainly Ikea, Decathlon, and a couple of Indian restaurants.  I visited the city center more than two years ago, but it was at the hieght of summer, and the town mostly seemed large and quiet to me and nothing else.  In addition, the overabundance of industrial areas and modern buildings that ring the city center made it look like a large and important city, but definitely one that made it comparable to say, Baltimore.   Being the closest "big" city to my apartment, it was a place to run errands and nothing more.  But on my second visit to the city center, armed with a better understanding of Padova, I was able to really appreciate the wealth of heritage the city has to offer. 

Villas of the Veneto: Villa Pisani (Stra)

Located in Stra, about ten minutes outside of Padova facing the Brenta River, Villa Pisani is a very grand complex originally owned by the Pisani family, a very influential and powerful Venetian family during the 17th and 18th centuries.  During this time, the family cashed in on Venice's ever-booming trade industry, and various members of the family became influential politicians, culminating in Andrea Pisani Alvise becoming doge in 1735.  Unfortunately, with the fall of Venice also came the end of the Pisani family's fortune, and the villa was sold to Napoleon, who in turn gave it to Eugene Beuaharnais when the latter was appointed as the French Viceroy of the former Venetian Empire.  The ownership of th villa did not switch back to Italian hands until the unification of Italy, when the villa came under state ownership and subsequently abandonment and disrepair.  Other than some notable visitors and the first meeting between Mussolini and Hitler, the villa only started to gain attention again and much needed restoration until the late 1970s.  During this time, renowned Italian avant garde filmmaker Pier Paolo Pasolini filmed a part of his film Porcile in the grounds of the villa: