VERONA

Once again we found ourselves on a train heading towards another city. I had originally planned to spend the weekend back in Venice because there were many things I had yet to see, but at this point in the week I was exhausted. I think most of us were on architectural overload and we were just plain worn out from the late nights, early mornings and long days.

We went to Carlo Scarpa’s Castelvecchio in the morning with the intent of seeing the famous bridge that he designed but it was closed during construction. Bummer. We stopped by a Roman Coliseum and finished up the day with the Banca Popolare di Verona designed by Carlo Scarpa.

Castelvecchio

Castelvecchio entrance.

Roman Coliseum

Banca Popolare di Verona designed by Carlo Scarpa

My favorite picture: Outside of the bank I was trying to take a sly picture of the wigs in the window, and I happened to catch the old man inside posing.

From there on we were free to go home and I was ready to get on a train and head back to Como. On my way to the train station I stopped by Juliet’s Villa (of Romeo and Juliet) where the walls were covered with the graffiti of lovers. Inside the courtyard there was a girl who was posing for a picture while touching the exposed breast on Juliet’s statue and I thought it was funny so I took a picture. I found out later that it is good luck to touch the bronze boob- now I am probably cursed with bad luck in the Romance Department for the rest of my life…

Some random girl touching Juliet’s breast

I made it to the train station and hoped on the first train that was Como bound. Boy was I glad to get home and put on some clean underwear! Traveling with just one bag can become difficult after traveling for long periods of time without places to do laundry.

VICENZA

Our Palladian education continued with a walking tour of Vicenza to see his Teatro Olimpico, Palazzo della Ragione, Villa Rotunda, and a few others along the way. The highlight of the day was when we heard about some contemporary Villas designed by Alvaro Siza that were under construction in the Vicenza countryside. We were able to work out a deal with the cab drivers that they would drive us out there, wait for us for 20 minutes while we took pictures and take us back to the city for only 20 euros. Even before the cab stopped we were all out of the cab running down the drive way to get to the Villas. Thankfully the construction crews were not on the job site and we were able to go inside the incomplete Villas and explore. After snapping pictures like crazy, we ran back to the cab and headed back to the city. I can confidently say that it was the strangest, and coolest architectural tour I have ever been on.

Later that night we went to a bar to watch a soccer game on TV and drink a few beers. Soccer is the national sport and if you wear the wrong jersey at a bar in a rival town, you could find yourself in some trouble. Thankfully we have steered clear of any confrontation so far, but since we are Inter Milan fans that might not last long…

VENETO

We boarded our private bus early in the morning to get a jump start on the long list of Palladian villas we were going to be seeing along the way to Vicenza. Palladio built his most famous Villas in the area know as Veneto, just outside of Venice in the countryside. Our first stop was at La Malcontenta (Villa Foscari)- an impressive villa located on what would have been a working farm, but now is just a tourist attraction for architects. The scale was incredible as can be seen in the pictures and the size of the people standing next to the building.









Next stop: Borgoricco Town Hall designed by Aldo Rossi. Our professor was a close friend of Rossi’s and was the first to translate his famous book, Architecture of the City into English. She claims to still have a key to his apartment… creepy!

Our time spent at Villa Emo was very strange! There were crews working behind the villa and the two cranes which frame the façade- were unexpected. Many of the buildings we have been studying during our trips have been under restoration of some kind, but the cranes were strange. We were able to take a tour of the villa, and I was able to sneak a picture of the backside- it was like catching Palladio with his skirt up- something no one was supposed to see because the Villa was meant to be approached from the front, not the back. The Villa was originally constructed completely out of stone and brick with a layer of plaster on the outside. When we knocked on the huge front columns and found out that they were steel- we were astonished. Curious of when the columns were replaced I asked our professor and she denied that they were steel- but we knew better than that- stone doesn’t echo like a steel pipe. I am still searching for a picture of the Villa during restoration- it would be like finding a picture of the Mona Lisa with her front teeth knocked out… a sort of architectural joke.

Another one of my favorite places on this trip was Tomba Brion designed by Carlo Scarpa. The architect designed an extension to the cemetery with a small chapel and an area designated as his final resting place. Carlo Scarpa was eventually buried here, but did not want to be buried like everyone else, so his casket was placed vertically into the ground so he could stand up. We didn’t get to spend quite as much time here as we would have liked, and I would really enjoy coming back sometime in the future.

Carlos Scarpa's grave stone.

Day light was beginning to run out and we still had another stop before we ended in Vicenza. At Villa Barbaro we were allowed to go inside, but we had to wear these funny slippers over our shoes so we would not damage the marble floors. We slipped and slid around the villa before we hoped back on the bus and headed for our hostel.













The bus driver dropped us off in front of our hostel- I thought our living conditions were cramped before, but I was wrong. Three of us were jammed into a small room that stunk like garbage and had nasty little bugs crawling around. You get what you pay for…