From its origins Valle Agredo has been a vital transit region between northern Europe, Venice and the Mediterranean. Merchants, armies, pilgrims and ordinary travellers made their way across the region, helping to create lasting relations with the different communities and cultures.

Even today it is an important thoroughfare for people travelling to the main cities of the Veneto region, such as Padua, Venice, Treviso, Vicenza and Verona, and the Dolomites. Thanks to its strategic position, Valle Agredo gives visitors the chance to visit the unique beauties of Veneto during the day and to stay in an area full of unique opportunities to discover.

Grazie, dunque, alla sua posizione strategica Valle Agredo offre ai suoi visitatori la possibilità di conoscere e visitare in giornata le bellezze uniche del Veneto, soggiornando in un territorio ricco di offerte e opportunità uniche.

Visiting Padua

Padua is one of the major artistic cities in Italy, with centuries of history and the site of the second oldest Italian university, founded in 1222, famed for professors such as Galileo Galilei and students such as Elena Lucrezia Cornaro Piscopia, the first woman in the world to graduate from a university. There are many sights to see in the city, particularly those dating from the 13th to the 15th centuries, the period when Florentine artistic influence was at its height.

Especially noteworthy are the Scrovegni Chapel with its 14th century frescos by Giotto, the Basilica of St Anthony, a destination for many pilgrims, and which contains the saint’s relics, the Prato della Valle - the second biggest town square in Europe, the Orto Botanico - the oldest university botanical garden in the world, the Palazzo della Ragione situated at the heart of the town squares, the Cathedral and the Baptistery with outstanding frescos by Giusto de’ Menabuoi and the many museums that host events and exhibitions each month. Without forgetting the famous Caffè Pedrocchi, the city’s most prestigious café.

We also recommend, in easy reach of the town centre, the Abano thermal baths and Montegrotto, the biggest spa district in Italy.

For more information, visit the official Padua tourist office website.

Visiting Treviso

Medieval and late-Gothic historic buildings, long arcades, river islands, all the evocative street corners and town squares - these are some of the images evoked by Treviso.

This magical city brings its visitors wonderful moments in an enchanting atmosphere that is typical of river cities. Treviso is for those who like to stroll without hurrying along the riverside, on cobblestones marked by time and history, and then sit at a restaurant table or in a small town square bar to savour the delicacies of the Treviso region.

During your visit to the city we would recommend Piazza dei Signori, il the heart of the city and a popular meeting place, with its Palazzo dei Trecento and its elegant Loggia Dei Cavalieri, the Church of San Nicolò and finally the Cathedral, with Titian’s altarpiece The Annunciation. For art lovers there is much more to see at Casa dei Carraresi, which has hosted several prestigious international exhibitions over the past few years.

For more information visit the Treviso tourist office website

Visiting Venice

With 14 million visitors each year Venice is second only to Rome as the most popular and most visited city in Italy. This unique destination can only be reached across the Ponte della Libertà, which seems to invite visitors to leave the real world behind them and plunge into a dream-like and mysterious atmosphere. Venice is refined and exotic, a city of water and art, and where East meets West. A destination not to be missed, close by Valle Agredo.

Among the sights are Piazza San Marco, the square at the heart of the floating city and the starting point for every excursion, Basilica di San Marco built in the oriental style and crowned by five byzantine cupolas, the historic palaces of Procuratie Vecchie and Procuratie Nuove, the Doge’s Palace and the incredibly romantic Bridge of Sighs which is always lit up at night by the flash of a camera. Every hour of the day Venice is bathed in different lights and colours. Among the points of interest, let’s not forget the Rialto Bridge one of the places that is continually animated by the flow of tourists

Venice is byzantine, classical, Renaissance, baroque, but also modern and contemporary, as can be seen in the restored and renovated Punta della Dogana, the interior of Palazzo Grassi or the avant-garde art exhibitions during the Biennale.

For more information visit the official Venice tourist office website/p>

Visiting Vicenza

Vicenza is the true homeland of one of the most famous architects in the world: Andrea Palladio. Anyone visiting Vicenza Vicenza can expect to see majestic and monumental buildings designed by the famous Renaissance architect. His work can be admired all over the city: the Basilica Palladiana in the heart of the city, the Teatro Olimpico the artist’s last work before his death, and Villa Rotonda, the most widely praised example of Palladian architecture.

Yet Vicenza does not only contain Palladio’s architectural jewels, and within the antique city walls are hidden other interesting sights: Piazza dei Signori, Palazzo Chiericati with its interesting exhibitions, Ponte San Michele the place where young Vicenzans meet up, and which leads towards Piazza del Signori, and finally the Gallerie di Palazzo Leoni Montanari.

For more information visit the official Vicenza tourist office website.

Visiting Verona

Verona, the ancient city of the Scaliger family with its multiple facets, is an enchantment and a surprise for thousands of tourists from all over the world. It is the native city of Romeo and Juliet, the world’s most famous couple, and home of the second biggest Roman amphitheatre in Italy, the Arena, which never fails to delight anyone seeing it for the first time.

Roman and medieval remains, Venetian influences and traces of Austrian rule can be seen in turn in its antique palaces, town squares, bridges and marvellous churches, all places to discover and experience in a day.

Alongside the Arena and Casa di Giulietta (Juliet’s House), don’t miss the Roman Theatre, the town squares in the historic town centre, Castelvecchio which was restored in the 1950s by Carlo Scarpa and now a museum housing important collections of medieval, Renaissance and modern art, and finally the historic churches of San Fermo and Santa Anastasia. Your last stop before leaving Verona should be the San Zeno church.

For more information visit the official Verona tourist office website.

Visiting the Dolomites

The Dolomites, also known as the Pale Mountains, are part of the eastern Italian Alps mountain chain and are situated in the regions of Trento, Bolzano, Belluno (where most of the Dolomites range is located), Pordenone and Udine.

On 26 June 2009, UNESCO’s Executive Committee for the Convention on Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity, meeting in Seville, declared the Dolomites a World Heritage Site for its magnificent mountain stones that shine in the setting sun: a unique UNESCO site that includes nine groups of Dolomite mountains extending over 142,000 hectares, which together with 85,000 hectares of “buffer zone”, has an overall total of 231,000 hectares. ( See the document Dolomites - Heritage of Humanity )

For this reason the area is treasured by climbers, skiers, hikers and mountain bikers: of particular note are the Tre Cime di Lavaredo, the Civetta, the Marmolada known as the “Queen of the Dolomites” which, at 3,342 metres, soars upwards above the others, the Tofane and the Schiara, Gusela del Vescovà and Monti del Sole groups of mountains.

To the high summits are added other jewels, such the Cansiglio and Somadida forests, and the centuries-old history and traditions of the linguistic minority groups who live there. And alongside the variety of museums, churches and castles, you will also obviously find great food.

For more information visit the official website of the UNESCO Dolomites Foundation