Sept. 5, 2013
Venice Day 5

Good night's sleep but woke up with mosquito bites and the sniffles!  Guess Venice does have bugs and we won't sleep with the window open tonight!  After a lovely breakfast at the hotel (part of our room rate) we hoofed it about 7 minutes to San Frari church where Rick Steves said we would see art where art was made to be.  It was WONDERFUL and we wanted to stay longer than we could.  We may go back tomorrow.  Interesting that in two churches now we've seen large statues of black people (Moors?), I think working as slaves, but part of the story nevertheless.  Sandy stumbled upon a corner alter that was the tomb of Monteverdi, complete with his bust and an original manuscript of one of his works.  What a find!

We boarded the train to Piombino Dese at 11:30 and got there in time for lunch.  Sally Gable met us at the train station and walked us the long block to Villa Cornaro, one of Palladio's villas.  And, there it was, right in front of us -- right on the main street with a row of stores opposite it!  Very imposing.  We walked right up to the gate, opened it, walked up the main stairs, unlocked the doors, and entered their home.  What a home!!  I took many pictures but can't show them on line -- look up Villa Cornaro on the internet.  Sally and Carl whisked us off to a lovely lunch of pasta, cake, and espresso at Café Palladio before the lunch rush hour and we had a nice visit.  We then went back to the villa and had the grandest tour in the world of the whole place!  Absolutely astounding!  The nicest people in the world are responsible (and lovingly care for) one of the most important buildings in the world.  So gorgeous, with statues and frescos adorning the "sala" or main downstairs room in the middle back of the house.  Sally said it was the first and only house to ever use statues to tell a family history.  They stood in imposing niches in the sala.  Built in 1552, the back yard slopes down to a Roman gate and a yet stagnant body of water that is soon to be restored to the original fishpond.  Each year that pond is drained and the townspeople are invited to come and get the many fish.  The lot, even in 1552, was long and narrow and the villa was built to make the most of it.  We ate fresh figs Sally picked right off the tree in back (the tree was probably very old, large and prolific) and marveled at the graffiti from the 17th century on the stucco (over brick) walls of the porch and attic, where the grain was kept.  There are two living floors, a basement (for wine), and the attic.  The double portico was very unusual for Palladio.

If this wasn't enough of a "to be believed" day, Sally drove us into the countryside to visit a beautiful and surprisingly modern tomb structure and chapel for Guiseppe Brion and his wife designed by the architect Carlo Scarpa.  Serene and Japanese-like, it was built next to a cemetery where Scarpa himself was buried after his untimely death in 1978.  In the cemeteries here people put flowers galore and pictures of the deceased.  It was really quite beautiful.

A short ride took us past Villa Barbaro and, down the street, the last church (unfinished) that Palladio built.  The V. Barbaro is very wide, with the "barchesse" (barn alcolves) on either side, but is still considered one of the "smaller" villas.  It was set more in the country on a large amount of land so it looked quite imposing.  There were two giant sundials above either end of the barchesse.

Our last stop was to visit an old and very gorgeous village nestled into the foothills of the Dolomites called Asolo.  Narrow brick streets and quaint shops made this town a little paradise and the views of the countryside were spectacular. It's amazing to think all these buildings (everywhere) are 400-500 and more years old, even the shops!  Robert Browning had a home in Asolo.

After our nightly prosecco and call to Ginny, we had a lovely dinner of Italian lasagna and wine at a delicious and busy (at 9:00pm) restaurant around the corner from our hotel and went back to call it a night.  No fire alarms, please!  Oh, while we were having our wine and talking to a couple we met here (we've talked to a lot of people and it's so interesting), a fellow came up to me and insisted I take a rose from him.  I said no but he wouldn't go away so I took it.  He started off, then turned around and put his hand out saying "do you have something for me".  I was in a mean frame of mind (not liking his forcing his damn rose on me), so I handed him back the rose and said "sure, have a rose".  He took it and left in a huff.