Location: Vicenza
Top Things to do in Vicenza
Things to do in Vicenza, Veneto: The Best Art Museums
Vicenza’s history dates back to pre-Roman times, but it’s a Renaissance figure, Andrea Palladio, with whom the city is most associated. One of the preeminent figures in Western architecture, Palladio built more than twenty buildings here, including the Basilica Palladiana, the Palazzo Chiericati (home to Vicenza’s museum and art gallery), the Teatro Olimpico (his last and some say greatest work) and many other palaces and villas, leading UNESCO to designate the city as a World Heritage Site.
Restaurants in Vicenza
1. Torrione di Porta Castello
Overall Ratings
5.0 based on 12 reviews
The mission of the Fondazione Coppola is to promote the visual languages of contemporary art, by focusing not only on acclaimed artists, but above all on emerging new talent. In 2018 Antonio Coppola, an entrepreneur, collector and art patron, established this foundation in the northern Italian city of Vicenza. The unique location of the Fondazione Coppola is the medieval tower of Porta Castello, known as the Torrione. Thanks to the initiatives and activities of the Fondazione Coppola the Torrione can now be visited by the public. Its recently restored rooms host exhibitions, events, activities and workshops dedicated to contemporary art, and are a place for the creation, study and criticism of visual art. Aiming to appeal to experts and connoisseurs, as well as enthusiastic young people, the Torrione will no doubt be a pole of attraction for art lovers for many generations to come.
2. Palazzo Chiericati
Overall Ratings
4.5 based on 553 reviews
The Palazzo Chiericati has been the historic home of the Civic Museum since 1855 and now houses the city's collections of paintings, sculptures and applied arts from the thirteenth to the twentieth centuries. A masterpiece of Palladio's early maturity (1550), the building not only has decorations from that period but also holds important documents on Vicenza's art history. The Museum of Palazzo Chiericati reopened the Palladian wing on December 2013, after the restoration works. On the main floor, the visitor can enjoy the works of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, contemporary to the construction of the building. The attic hosts the Bequest of Marquis Giuseppe Roi: his personal collection of paintings, drawings and engravings from the fifteenth to the twentieth century, set in a charming display of house-museum. On the ground floor the visitor can admire, in a temporary exhibition, a selection of masterpieces of the collection not currently on display: Paolo Veneziano, Memling, Montagna, Fogolino, Sansovino, Tintoretto, Maffei and Pittoni. In the basement are located the works donated to the museum by the sculptor Nereo Quagliato.
Reviewed By christina_stilista - Perth, Australia
Very beautiful museum and Palazzo that is worth the visit. Beautiful collection of art in addition to the Palazzo. There is an antique toy exhibit in the basement that is EXCEPTIONAL. I have never seen better anywhere in the world. I suggest you include this Palazzo in your visit to the Teatro Olimpico.
3. Gallerie di Palazzo Leoni Montanari
Overall Ratings
4.5 based on 309 reviews
Reviewed By r0landbrunner - Zurich, Switzerland
there are some really excellent pieces to be seen here in the permanent collection, and there was a very good temporary exhibition at our visit about time. definitely worth the visit.
4. Villa Valmarana ai Nani
Overall Ratings
4.5 based on 701 reviews
Venetian villa with superb frescoes of the most important Venetian painters of 18th century: Giambattista and Giandomenico Tiepolo. Still owned and inhabited by the Valmarana family, who bought it back in 1720. Open to the public for visits 7 days a week and available for events such as weddings, conferences, gala dinners, photo shooting, business presentations, concerts, representations, etc
Reviewed By Clinor - Canterbury, United Kingdom
If you are in Vicenza, it is very well worth making the effort to get to the Villa ‘ai Nani’, which is a charming Villa in its own right and has interior frescoes by Gianbattista Tiepolo following his decoration of the grand staircase at the Wurzburg Residence, Germany) and his son Giandomenico. This is my third visit to the Villa, and each time I never fail to be enchanted by the light airy frescoes of the Villa Pavilion. All the frescoes of the Pavillion have a classical theme. In my view the most outstanding ones are in the entrance room but there are four further rooms each with a different narrative. In the room of Aeneas, there is a photograph of the Pavilion after the bombing of Vicenza in 1944. It is truly shocking. Some of the ceiling frescoes do not survive or only in part. It would be good to have more information available about the restoration; it must have been a real labour of love. We walked around the gardens before returning to the Foresteria where we had bought our tickets. There you can see a series of painted rooms, some of which were painted by the Tiepolo father and son. They make an interesting counterpoint to the more noble themes of the Pavilion.
5. SS. Felice e Fortunato Museum
Overall Ratings
5.0 based on 1 reviews
