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CITY GUIDES
VICENZA
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Vicenza is curiously tranquil for a city marked by the dichotomy of its inner life. On one hand, it is a typical provincial town of aristocratic origin, and on the other, it is one of the strongest industrial centers in all of Italy. Crown jewel of the wealthy Veneto region, Vicenza boasts the highest per capita income and lowest rate of unemployment of all the Italian provinces.
To a large degree, Vicenza owes its good fortune to the entrepreneurial urges of its citizens. They are a reserved and retiring lot, imbued with a large portion of the work ethic. The microcosm of young industrialists, businessmen and artisans turns on and on, as they play out their vital roles upon the cities piazzas bounded by aristocratic facades; upon the surrounding rolling hills and along the banks of the Bacchiglione river. The Vicenzian mercantile empire is based on simplicity. Things like gold, for example, that mainstay of trade. Gold is crafted by over 800 local enterprises which present their products at three annual international fairs. The city was much favored by Palladio, a supreme Italian architect of the 1500's. Indeed, the his villas and noble residences which line the exceptionally beautiful Piazza dei Signori have become the symbols of Vicenza.
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| Altitude: 39 meters Pop.: 107,454 inhabitants International airports: Marco Polo in Venice (68 Km from Vicenza); Valerio Catullo in Verona (51 Km from Vicenza) Postal code: 36100 Country/area code: (+39) 0444 Regional information: Piazza del Duomo 5, ph: 0444-544122, fax: 0444-32500 City information: Piazza Matteotti 12 (near Teatro Olimpico), ph: 0444-320854, fax: 0444-327072
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Travelers' tip
You cannot leave this town without visiting the villas that the nobles
from Vicenza built
in the 1700's on the outskirts of town and which are among the most
beautiful in Veneto.
Villa Valmarana (by car on the road SS 247 to Rovigo, at
about 3 Km from town)
and, not far from it, la Rotonda, or villa Capra,
extremely famous building by Palladio,
as grand as a temple, are really worth a visit. |
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