Vicenza Vicenza The Flower Kings Category="Towns in the Veneto"Vicenza (population 107,223) is the capital of the Province of Vicenza in the Veneto region, northern Italy at the northern base of the Monti Berici, straddling the Bacchiglione. At 45°33′ N 11°33′ E, Vicenza is approximately 60 km west of Venice and 200 km east of Milan. The city has an active and lively industrial sector, which is especially famous for jewelry and Clothing factories. The Gold Exposition is world-famous and it takes place in Vicenza three times per year (January, June, September).

History

Vicenza (Roman "Vicetia") an ancient Roman Municipium (from 49 BCE), but was overshadowed by its neighbor Patavium (Padua) in Roman times. Little survives of the Roman city, but three of the bridges across the Bacchiglione and Retrone rivers are of Roman origin, and isolated arches of a Roman Aqueduct exist outside Porta Sta. Croce. After the fall of the Western Roman Empire in the 5th century, the Vandals under Alaric then the Huns under Attila laid the area to waste. Later, it became the seat of one of the dozens of Lombard duchies, and joined the Lombard League against Federick I Barbarossa of the Holy Roman Empire.

An independent Commune with an oligarchic Republican political structure, Vicenza was conquered in 1311 by the Scaligeri lords of Verona, who fortified it against the Visconti of Milan. Vicenza came under rule by Venice in 1405, and its subsequent history is that of Venice.

Vicenza is on UNESCO's list of World Heritage Sites.

Arts

The late Renaissance architect Andrea Palladio (1518-1580) was a citizen of Vicenza, as was also his contemporary, Vincenzo Scamozzi (1552-1616). Vicenza is home to several buildings of Palladio . Of notable interest is the summer house called Villa Capra 'La Rotonda', located just outside the downtown area; the public building Basilica Palladiana, centrally located in Vicenza's Piazza dei Signori, of which Palladio himself said that it might stand comparison with any similar work of antiquity; and the Teatro Olimpico. Palladio also designed several palazzi for families in the city, most notably the Palazzo Chiericati, home of Vicenza's museum, and the Palazzo Barbarano. All these buildings date from ca 1560 - 1590.

Popular dishes

The inhabitants of Vicenza are pejoratively known to other Italians as magnagatti (cat eaters). Purportedly, Vicentinos turned to cats for sustenance during times of famine.

Famous people from Vicenza

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