Benvenuti- Day 3 - Downtown Vicenza

We started out our day today by taking the bus from right outside the base to the downtown area. We saw this first statue and this is of Antonio Pigafetta. He was born in Vicenza. He was engaged to assist Ferdinand Magellan. During the voyage he kept an accurate journal which gave us much of the information that is available regarding the voyages of Magellan. Another important person who was born in Padua, just 25 km from Vicenza was Andrea Palladio. He influenced the architecture a great deal here in the Veneto region and is widely considered the most influential architect in the history of Western architecture. He was influenced by Roman and Greek architecture. As a matter of fact he designed a villa that was adapted for Thomas Jefferson's Monticello. Andrea Palladio wrote several books in which he included the blue prints for the aforementioned villa and many other buildings. That is why many buildings here in the region of Veneto are considered Palladio's work. While he may not have built them (some even being built over a hundred years after his death) he designed them and put it all down on paper for others to copy. The next picture is a picture of the entrance to his home in downtown Vicenza.
Across the street from Pigafetta's statue the market starts. The outdoor market is every Thursday and covers a lot of different streets. Just when you think you've left it behind you turn a corner and there are more vendors set up. There are so many different things for sale. Clothing, shoes, trinkets, jewelry, purses etc. But the best part of the market by far (I think) is the fresh food. Fruits, veggies, separate areas with fresh fish, sausages, cheeses (you just don't know how many cheeses there actually are until you see them in the market) and then there are flowers available for purchase as well. Some really neat ones I have never seen before (unfortunately I didn't take pictures of these but I will next time I see them). Another nice thing about the markets is that the cheese place will let you taste the cheeses. The fish place has a fried mixture that is fresh and you can get a bag to walk around with. We tried a bag of fried shrimp and it was so tasty. Even James thought so and he doesn't really care for shrimp. So, if all the food makes you hungry you can get a little snack to get you through your shopping day.
Another thing we saw was a portion of the old gate (above). The oldest original part of the wall in town. So amazing to see such old and beautiful architecture. I am always amazed at things that are centuries of years old yet still standing.The picture below was taken in a beautiful old park.
We also saw the Olympic Theater which represents a valuable symbol of Palladian architecture and it is the most ancient existing covered theater in the world. In 1580 The Olympic Academy of Vicenza, an aristocratic cultural club assigned Andrea Palladio to project a site for performances and ceremonies. Andrea Palladio completed the project but could not carry out the construction which was assigend to the Vicenza architect Vincenzo Scamozzi. Here is a small peek...unfortunately for us it was closed to tourists on the day we were there because of a movie being filmed. HOWEVER!!! We just realized today that the Olympic Theater is actually a 30 second walk from our church. So next time we are there we will walk over and tour it then. So excited about that because we really were bummed to find it closed to us on our tour day.
This picture is of a high school in the downtown area. High schools are all specialized (like universities) and it takes 5 years to graduate. By the time an Italian student graduates from high school he has the equivalent of a US Associate's Degree.
Some of the other photos included are just random shots of things we really enjoyed looking at.

The only really bad part of today besides rushing through everything super fast was that we caught the bus back to the Base at the same time the high school was letting out for the day. Italian kids do not drive to school they ride the city bus. Not only that but the downtown area has several schools (probably more than 5). The buses were packed with students. There wasn't room for us to move at all. You enter the bus at the front or rear, validate your ticket towards the middle of the bus and exit in the middle. However, I rode at the front on the step while balancing on a couple of toes and trying to stay upright. Really I didn't need to bother about staying upright since I was wedged in tighter than a sardine. No kidding. And we still stopped at every bus stop to let more people on. I couldn't move forward or backwards. I had to pass our bus tickets to another member of our group to validate. And it was so hot and stuffy. Not a good end to the day but I did enjoy what we saw.

ciao for now.