Mestrino parts 2 and 3
Saturday was action packed with Vicenza and Padua.
We started our day with Patrizia, Enrico and Alice (the 6 year old daughter of Cinzia and Giuseppe).
Vincenza was way more laid back than Verona and Florence but just as historical with beautiful palaces, squares, tower. We opted to not see the opera house since it was expensive to get in.
“Vicenza is a city in the Veneto region of northeast Italy. It’s known for the elegant buildings designed by the 16th-century architect Andrea Palladio. These include the Palladian Basilica and the Palazzo Chiericati, now home to an art gallery. Nearby, also by Palladio, the Teatro Olimpico replicates a classic outdoor theater, indoors.”
We drove up to the top of Monte Berico where we saw the Sanctuario of Santa Maria di Monte Berico where many Catholics make a pilgrimage to. Sadly it was closed. We took many photos of the gorgeous mountains and the entire city of Vicenza. We witnessed two different couples having wedding photos taken in front of the Cathedral.
Side note: Enrico moved to Vicenza when he was 10 years old from Naples.
We went back to Patrizia and Enrico’s home for lunch where we met Giuseppe. Of course we had a delish bottle of wine and they pulled out all of the homemade liquors.
Next up was our tour of Padova.
“Padua is a city in Northern Italy’s Veneto region. It’s known for the frescoes by Giotto in its Scrovegni Chapel from 1303–05 and the vast 13th-century Basilica of St. Anthony. The basilica, with its Byzantine-style domes and notable artworks, contains the namesake saint’s tomb. In Padua’s old town are arcaded streets and stylish cafes frequented by students of the University of Padua, established in 1222.”
Padova has never been on my list of places to see in Italy and I honestly never heard of it until I knew that Patrizia lived nearby. We were blown away by its historical beauty, size, basilicas, statues, market (huge one every Saturday.)
We quickly went to the Basilica of San Antonio before it closed. Saint Anthony was born in Lisbon Portugal and died in Padua and he became a saint in Padua. The Basilica has his crypt. It has a separate chapel inside the basilica with all of his relics, including his hair, his tongue, his jaw, his robe, etc. etc. It is one of the most beautiful Basilicas that we have been since we have been in Italy.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Basilica_of_Saint_Anthony_of_Padua
https://caedm.ca/2018/06/13/3-quick-facts-st-anthony-padua
https://www.santantonio.org/en/content/chapel-relics-treasury-chapel
Padua has one more cathedral that I would come back to visit: basilica San Justina. (Basilica of Santa Giustina).
https://it.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Basilica_di_Santa_Giustina
Sadly it was closed.
After we finished touring the church, we met up with Cinzia, Giuseppe and Alice. We continued to walk around the city. We walked across the bridge where they have a fable of people being killed called Ponte della Morte
https://www.padovaoggi.it/blog/vivipadova/ponte-della-morte-padova-leggenda.html
It is next to a very old church of San Daniel.
https://www.catholic.org/saints/saint.php?saint_id=2819
We walked by the prestigious Padua University where Galileo was a professor. His chair sits in the campus but only students have the privilege of seeing it.
We found a place in one of the squares to have an Aperol spritz, after all Aperol was born in Padua.
After our spritz, we walked to a pizza place where we had dinner. It was probably the largest pizza that Paige and I have ever seen on a table. It was rectangular and long and quite amazing. I will post pictures.
This was quite a late night for us and we didn’t get back to our room until almost midnight.
And just when we thought it couldn’t get better. Sunday was another amazing day. We walked over to Patrizia and Enrico’s home and met Massimo who is the oldest brother of Patrizia and Cinzia. We also met Michele who is Massimo‘s fiancé. We drove to a restaurant in the mountains and it took us about 40 minutes to get there. It was absolutely gorgeous. We had a typical pasta with a duck sauce and it was delicious. The town was called Vo in the restaurant is Bocca.
After our lunch, we stopped at a vineyard, Azienda agricola Serraglio. We tasted a Cabernet and a Bianca and a sweet white. The setting was very beautiful and the wine was delish.
Next up Abbey of Praglia, a beautiful monastery. We had a guided tour in Italian so I just took photos.
We got to see Cinzia and Giuseppe’s home when we got back to Mestrino, which is under renovation but they still managed to have us taste even more homemade liquors. This time mint, chocolate and licorice.
We sadly said our goodbyes and they promised to come visit us!
They are the most generous and gracious people. We loved every second!
