Travel Guide of Bassano del Grappa, Veneto, Italy

Bassano del Grappa is a city in the Vicenza province, in the region of Veneto, in northern Italy. Surrounded by hills and favored by a mild climate, Bassano fits perfectly the many pieces of its historical periods. The oldest finds are datable to 3000 BC, then the ancient Romans, but it is the Middle Ages and the Renaissance are the two periods that best correspond to the actual face of the country. Bassano has always been an economically very active center. From the manufacture of fabrics, to the processing of paper and ceramics.

Bassano del Grappa located in the north-east of the Italian peninsula, in the heart of the Veneto region, on the border between the provinces of Vicenza, Padua and Treviso. The city is located at the foot of the Venetian Pre-Alps (Asiago plateau and Monte Grappa), at the point where the Brenta flows out of the Canale di Brenta. The choice is not accidental: in fact, it simultaneously offers control over the countryside, the river and the main traffic routes.

Crossed by the Brenta river, Bassano del Grappa is one of the most populated and developed cities in the Veneto. The 12th century fortress, the Cathedral and the many illustrious palaces, including, as evidence of the Venetian domination, Ca ‘Rezzonico remain to be visited: with stuccoes and pictorial decorations on which there is the hand of Canova.

Walking in the historic center means diving into art: the streets of the center are adorned with the works of authors such as Palladio, Canova, Jacopo Da Ponte, Marinali and Dall’Acqua. In Bassano there is the oldest Civic Museum in Veneto which is worth a visit together with the suggestive Loggia dei Potestà.

The symbol of the city is the Ponte Vecchio, designed by Palladio in wood so that its elasticity was able to counteract the impetuosity of the Brenta river. Its image links to the epic of the Alpine troops of the Great War. Over the centuries, it underwent several and heavy damages both due to the river and due to bombing, but always renovated according to the Palladian directives. At one entrance to the bridge is the small but fascinating Museo degli Alpini which preserves historical documents and period relics inside.

Architectural examples of the medieval era are also the Fortress, built to defend the city and of which the towers and the walls remain; the Civic Tower, which allows you to enjoy an exclusive view of the nearby mountains from above. In the central square of Monte Vecchio there are the imposing Palazzo del Monte di Pietà and the Dal Corno Bonato house, whose façade was frescoed by Jacopo Da Ponte, known as Bassano (the works are now kept in the Civic Museum);

A few steps away, in the Piazza della Libertà, the neoclassical church of San Giovanni, built in 1300 by the architect Giovanni Miazzi. The fifteenth-century Loggia del Comune is also wonderful. The whole inhabited area is dotted with buildings of splendid taste, enriched with precious ornaments: a walk through the quiet squares, in fact, can be very fascinating.

Bassano del Grappa is also known for the two great traditions that have made it famous. The first is ceramics with the productions linked to the prestigious Antonibon family, which you can admire in the Ceramics Museum in Palazzo Sturm. The second is the typography, which the illustrious Remondini family (publishers and chalcographers, creators of the most important printing industry in Italy) developed between 1600 and 1800.

In addition to a rapidly growing industrial economy and a lively cultural activity, Bassano has a tasty and tasty gastronomic tradition, the home of the famous grappa and white asparagus, world-famous gastronomic refinements.

History
The city was founded in the 2nd century BC by a Roman called Bassianus, whence the name, as an agricultural estate. The first existence of the medieval city dates from 998, while the castle is mentioned first in 1150. In 1175 Bassano was conquered by Vicenza, but the city maintained a semi-autonomous status as a free comune in the 13th century also, when it was home to the family of the Ezzelini, who first unified the various territories of Veneto.

In 1278, according to Giovanni da Nono, Matteo of the Cortusi family of Padua was elected podestà. In 1281, the city came under Paduan control. In 1368 Bassano was acquired by the Visconti of Milan and was given the status of “separate land” (terra separata).

In 1404, Bassano became a part of the Stato da Tera ‘Mainland State’ of the Venetian Republic, which granted the Bassanese district the status of autonomous podesteria, “free and separate from whatever city and from the jurisdiction of whatever city” and subordinate only to Venice.

In 1760, Doge Francesco Loredan granted Bassano the title of City, subsequently retained under the Austrian and the Italian States. The Serenissima did not alter the town’s magistratures, limiting itself to impose a Captain chosen by the Venetian Senate. The city became home to a flourishing industry producing wool, silk, iron and copper, and mainly for ceramics; in the 18th became especially famous in all Europe for the presence of the Remondini printer company.

During the French Revolutionary Wars the city was the site of the Battle of Bassano. In 1815 it was included in the Kingdom of Lombardy-Venetia, and became part of the unified Kingdom of Italy in 1866. Napoleon Bonaparte remained in Bassano del Grappa for many months.

During World War I Bassano was in the front area, and all industrial activities were halted. Ernest Hemingway during his days as an ambulance driver in the war spent many days in Bassano and eventually settled there as part of A Farewell to Arms. Also other American writers spent some days in Bassano during World War I such as Scott Fitzgerald and Dos Passos.

The original name of the town was Bassano Veneto. After the terrible battles on Mount Grappa in World War I, where thousands of soldiers lost their lives, a decision was made to change the name of the town. In 1928, the name was changed to Bassano del Grappa, meaning Bassano of Mount Grappa, as a memorial to the soldiers killed.

In the last days of World War II, Bassano del Grappa was bombed by USAF B-24s and B-17s. The symbol of the town is the covered Ponte Vecchio, which was designed by the architect Andrea Palladio in 1569. The wooden pontoon bridge was destroyed many times, the last time during World War II. The Alpine soldiers, or Alpini have always revered the wooden bridge and Bassano del Grappa. After the destruction of the bridge, they took up a private collection and had the bridge completely rebuilt.

Main Attractions
The city is known all over the world for the famous Ponte degli Alpini, designed by the architect Andrea Palladio and recognized as an Italian National Monument with the law of 5 July 2019; every year it is visited by tourists from all over the world, the city is a fixed stop in the Venetian tour also given the proximity to Venice and Padua(with daily direct train connections). Furthermore, the important food and wine and sporting events intersect with the cultural tourist offer of the city which has increased thanks to the effervescent offer proposed and the creation of national and international events promoted and organized purely by Operaestate Festival Veneto since 1981.

Walk under arcades and between alleys and squares around which Renaissance palaces and medieval churches parade. Elegant and refined in its historic center divided above all into three communicating squares. The center of everything are the two squares, Garibaldi and della Libertà, with S. Giovanni Battista and the loggia of the Municipality, containing frescoes by the most important local artist: Jacopo da Ponte known as Bassano.

It continues with the fourteenth-century Church of San Francesco, the Palazzo Pretorio, the house of Remondini (famous family of publishers) and the Civic Museum which boasts one of the best exhibitions in Veneto, with ancient Greek ceramics, works of the da Ponte family, Tiepolo, by Hayez and more.

Here a Christmas market with a decidedly Nordic atmosphere is held. Next to the famous wooden artifact that connects the two banks of the Brenta river. Nardini, a historic brandy producer who also offers a very popular aperitif by young people from Bassano and by all tourists.

A few meters towards the center, there is the Poli grapperia with attached museum. After passing the Tassotti paper shop, which takes up and keeps alive the ancient eighteenth-century tradition of the Remondini (printers of the Serenissima Republic of Venice), go up towards the squares, leaving on the right the Sturm museum, which houses the famous Bassano ceramics and a dedicated section precisely to the Remondini.

From the elegant piazzotto Montevecchio, through an arch, we can reach the other two squares, which include the splendid church of San Francesco, the civic tower and the Ferracina clock that makes a fine show of itself from the facade of the Town Hall. Adjacent to the church of San Francesco is the beautiful civic museum, which reserves many surprises.

Bassano is also the city of Jacopo Dal Ponte who in the 16th century illustrated the Veneto with his paintings destined for lasting fame. But the Museum also stands out for the liveliness of the proposals with frequent temporary exhibitions.

The nearby took places in the First World War cannot be ignored. The nearby Monte Grappa testifies to an experience that has marked Italian history.

The Old Bridge (Ponte degli Alpini; Bassano Bridge)
The Bassano sul Brenta bridge, known as Ponte Vecchio, is also known as the “Ponte degli Alpini” and is the subject and title of a popular song of the Alpini. This bridge since ancient times was the main communication route between Bassano and Vicenza. The totally wooden bridge, 58 meters long, rests on four triangular wooden pillars, aligned with the flow of water, and is covered by a roof supported by Tuscan columns.

In 1209 he had his first dated building. This structure was definitively overwhelmed by the floods of the river in October 1567. Andrea Palladio in 1569 designed the new bridge , initially proposing a completely different project from the previous one, namely with three stone arches on the model of the ancient Roman bridges (copying the contemporary project of the Ponte sul Tesina). The city council rejected the project, requiring the architect not to deviate too much from the traditional structure. So in the summer of 1569 Palladio returned to a project on a wooden structure, in such a way that its elasticity was able to contrast the impetuosity of the Brenta river, but of great visual impact. In 1748 the bridge was overwhelmed by a flood; it was then rebuilt three years later by Bartolomeo Ferracina.

During the Second World War the bridge was blown up by the partisans on February 17, 1945 to protect the city . It was rebuilt in 1947, according to Palladio’s original design, in nine months. Subsequently to the name Ponte Vecchio the wording Ponte degli Alpini was added as they were among the main supporters of its reconstruction . From the bridge you can enjoy an excellent view of the surrounding mountains and the Brenta canal.

Civil architectures

Villa Angarano Bianchi Michiel.
Originally conceived by Andrea Palladio around 1548, the project of the villa is included in the Quattro Libri dell’Architettura by the architect from Vicenza, which highlights the interesting position of the villa, which enjoys the proximity of the Brenta river. The central body is the work of Baldassare Longhena in the seventeenth century.

Villa Rezzonico Borella
17th-18th century, with chapel, park and garden. Attributed to various architects including Baldassare Longhena and Giorgio Massari, part of the statues and stuccos found in the villa are attributed to Antonio Canova and Abbondio Stanzio. In the main hall there are some paintings and canvases by Antonio Canova, D. Pellegrini and others; while some rooms of the villa house a collection of ancient paintings by authors including Dosso Dossi and antiquities. The American architect Paul Chalfin was inspired by this villa to build the Vizcaya villa in Miami (USA) in 1914-1916.

Villa Ca ‘Erizzo Luca
15th-century origin, is one of the most picturesque architectural contexts of Bassano. Located on the left bank of the Brenta river, it houses a heritage of frescoes, stuccos and antique furniture of rare value. The so-called “Harvard Poets” such as John Howard Lawson, John Dos Passos and Ernest Hemingway stayed in its rooms during the Great War.

Villa Giusti of the Garden
The villa was built on a unitary project in the first half of the seventeenth century at the behest of the Zambelli family. When the property passed to the patrician Girolamo Ascanio Molin, during the 18th century, a period of great cultural activity began for the villa and the rooms were a meeting point for writers and artists. Subsequently, following the marriage of Paola Molin with Count Carlo Giusti, the villa entered the possession of the Giusti del Giardino family in the 19th century. Count Girolamo, son of the countess, initiated a great transformation in the first half of the nineteenth century by creating a park of clear romantic inspiration, which was inaugurated in 1861.

Villa Fanzago
The owner of the land and creator of this unique construction in 1925 was Luigi Aliprando Fanzago, son of Francesco Luigi Fanzago and Amalia Michieli, doctor of law, veteran of the 1915-18 war, born in Padua on January 22, 1881 and died in Bassano del Grappa on February 28, 1938. The latter had the villa built, perhaps copying it from the castle of Krassonitz in Moravia, the residence of his cousin Attems together with the palace in Graz. The material for the construction was brought from Austria, the only exceptions concerned the Venetian floors and the external cladding.

Palazzo Pretorio
It was the seat of the Podestà from 1315 and later of the Town Council. The Palace is still protected today by a short wall. It is accessed through a door with diamond-studded white stone, in whose tympanum is housed the lion of San Marco with an open book, a sign of Bassano’s peaceful dedication to the Serenissima. In the square the staircase dates back to 1552 and, halfway up, a small room preserves on the plaster the coats of arms of the families of the Venetian podestà. *

Sturm Palace
It was built in the mid-18th century, in the Bassano del Grappa area called Cornorotto, incorporating a stretch of walls, a tower and a pre-existing core of 15th-century buildings on the left bank of the Brenta river. Since 1882, the Ceramics Museum has had its headquarters in the palace and the collection of majolica, porcelain and earthenware is made up of about 1 200 pieces, with a notable presence of the Antonibon production (18th-19th century). The same building, from 15 September 2007, also houses the Remondini Museum, one of the few in Italy dedicated to printingwhich illustrates all the aspects of the 18th-19th century industrial phenomenon of the Remondini family. The material on display is very varied (books, decorated papers, sacred and profane popular engravings, games, etc.) and includes etchings and woodcuts by great Italian and European engravers, including Dürer, Mantegna and Giambattista Tiepolo.

Bonaguro Palace
It is a historic 15th century building located near the Ponte Vecchio in the Angarano district. The building was divided into a manor complex with dovecote (dovecote) and protected by a wall. The ancient owners also built a spectacular garden full of allegorical statues, perspective paths, fountains, according to the sixteenth-century taste that gave the farm a monumental appearance. The property was located in lands cultivated with vineyards and wheat well represented in the statues. Since 1969 it has belonged to the Municipality of Bassano which uses it for exhibitions or other cultural events.

Agostinelli Palace
It was donated to the city of Bassano with a testamentary bequest by the dancer Mary Dirhoui Megrditchian Agostinelli and destined to host, in the central part of the building, after the restoration interventions, the exhibitions that the city of Bassano was proposing in places other than the Civic Museum. Over the years, a number of particularly important exhibition initiatives have taken place which have confirmed the Palazzo as an appropriate place for exhibitions and meetings for events dedicated to contemporary art, engraving, and ceramics.

Roberti Palace
The construction of the palace dates back to the end of the 17th century, to which successive modifications were added (such as the fresco in the noble hall). Napoleon Bonaparte stayed in the building on 8 September 1796 and 10 March 1797 during his Italian Campaign (1796-1797). In memory of the event, a plaque is placed outside the building. The last restoration dates back to 1998 by the Manfrotto family, current owner of the building.

Religious architectures

Cathedral of Santa Maria in Colle
It stands on the ancient parish church, inside the First Wall of the Ezzelini Castle. The presence of this parish church is documented since 998, in a placitus issued on the occasion of a judicial assembly presided over by Count Azeli and Oberto, Bishop of Verona . The cathedral of Bassano del Grappa does not have a real facade in the classic sense of the theme, but has a simple smooth wall interrupted only by three entrance doors, of which the central one is higher and has an arch andpediment (the central door), while the lateral ones are simpler, lower and squared off. The wall is dominated by five semicircular windows that give light to all’interno.L’interno plant rectangular, it is characterized by a singular and almost total unity historical and figurative. The walls are marked by Corinthian pilasters surmounted by a balustrade decorated with modillions. The interior of the cathedral is characterized by the presence of the Baptistery, the organ, the confessionals and eight altars complete with altarpieces, as well as the main altar.

Church of San Francesco
Built with a dedication to the Virgin Mary, it was sold to the Conventual Friars Minor who dedicated it to San Francesco. In Romanesque style with a Latin cross it has been enlarged several times. The façade has a gabled structure with an agile protiro with round arches dating back to 1306. Inside the Annunciation of Guariento di Arpo as well as a painted wooden crucifix. Some historians of the past have affirmed that the construction of this church is the fruit of a vow made by Ezzelino I da Romano(the “balbo”) during the voyage by ship, returning from the second crusade in the Holy Land (approximately around 1148) in the midst of a sea storm that risked martyrizing the crusaders, gratifying them far beyond the ordinary absolution of all sins. Ezzelino and other knights begged the Virgin Mary to save them, not considering themselves worthy to rise to the honors of the calendar. This hypothesis seems confirmed by the frescoes present; however, it is not supported by historical archival documents .

Ossuary temple
Initially built (1908) to house the new archpriest seat of Bassano and then suspended due to lack of funds, at the end of the Great War, sold to the Italian state (1930), it became an ossuary to bury the remains of those who died in battle in a decent way. It houses 5 405 fallen, including 236 decorated. In neo – Gothic style, with a Latin cross shape, it is built entirely of red bricks. The entire 75-meter-long construction is streamlined by two agile bell towers of 60 meters in height each. A similar copy, by the same architect Rinaldo di Venezia, is located in Montebelluna (TV).

Church of San Giovanni Battista
It rises on the south side of Piazza Libertà, from the embankment that closed the moat around the second circle of walls. Commissioned by the Blasi family, the church dates back to 1308 and was rebuilt in the second half of the 17th century by the Bassano architect Giovanni Miazzi who designed it after meeting Francesco Maria Preti. According to tradition, it was born with the main altar oriented to the east and with the main entrance to the west but, with the eighteenth-century renovation the main facade, inaugurated in 1813, was built towards the square, so that the church has a north-south orientation. and a singular plan: it is in fact developed in width rather than in length as foreseen by canonical schemes and norms. Monsignor Zaccaria Bricito from Bassano consecrated it on 30 June 1847. Inside we find the interesting Baroque chapel of the Sacrament, richly decorated with statues, cherubs and bas-reliefs by Orazio Marinali and precious stuccos by the Milanese Abbondio Stazio and Carpoforo Mazzetti. The altarpiece depictingSan Giovanni Battista is a masterpiece of Piazzetta’s early years.

Church of San Donato
Built on the right Brenta in the immediate vicinity of the Ponte Vecchio dates back to 1208. It was built by the wish of Ezzelino II the Monk on concession of the Bishop of Vicenza Uberto II in order to counter the spread of the Cathar heresy. The church was later enlarged and used as a Franciscan convent place. In April 1221 and 4 October 1226 stopped there St. Francis of Assisi and St. Anthony of Padua. In 1325the Franciscans moved to the Church of Santa Maria, then of San Francesco, in the current Piazza Garibaldi. Two years later the convent hosted the Benedictine nuns who transformed it into a hospital. In the fifteenth century it returned to the Franciscans and from the mid-sixteenth century began a slow decline. Inside is the Madonna and Child enthroned with San Donato and San Michele Arcangelo by Francesco Da Ponte Il Vecchio, father of Jacopo. In 1900, long renovations aimed at enhancing the figures of San Francesco and Sant’Antonio, recreating the cell which, according to tradition, housed the two saints.

Church of the Holy Cross
In 1124, on his return from the Holy Land, the abbot Pontius of Melgueil, who had fallen into disgrace to the Papacy, did not return to his abbey of Cluny, but sought refuge with the powerful families of the Marca Trevigiana, loyal to the Empire. These gave him the lands of Campese, where with the protection of the bishop of Padua he gave life to the project of building a grandiose abbey dedicated to the Holy Cross, the symbol of the Crusaders. Its main supporters were the Ezzelini, the extermination of which however caused the arrest of the development of the new monastery, which passed under the jurisdiction of the Benedictine Congregation of San Benedetto Po and had the dignity of priory.

The present appearance, although much modified compared to the origin, clearly retains some elements of the original structures. The place was of extraordinary interest after 1544, due to the fact that the last period of his life lived here Teofilo Folengo, a brilliant and fruitful Macaronic poet, known and celebrated under the pseudonym of ” Merlin Cocai”. His famous sepulcher, located in the church to the right of the main altar, has been the destination of famous travelers, who over the centuries have written epitaphs in his honor, collected in small part in the chapel itself. Inside the former monastery is A Folenghian Documentation Center is active for those who wish to have information on the activities concerning the poet, among which there are many cultural and food and wine initiatives proposed by the “Friends of Merlin Cocai”.

Church of San Giorgio alle Acque
Documented since 1202, it was subjected to the Ezzelini family in the 11th century when the interesting frescoes still existing were painted inside.

Trinity Church in Angarano
Completed around 1810 according to the project of Giovanni Miazzi (1698 – 1797). It took the place of the old building, of fifteenth-century origin, by now completely inadequate to the religious and sacramental needs of the present community. Four imposing semi-columns, supported by high bases, support the entablature from which a classic triangular tympanum begins, decorated with a serrated frame. Laterally inside each of the two semi-columns in prominent rectangular and square areas, in the center, above the entrance portal a semicircular tympanum is in harmony above a triumphal arch, under which a stained glass rose window opens after the second world war for the destruction of the previous one: the symbol of the SS. Trinity, coats of arms of Pius XII and of the bishop of Vicenza Zinato and of theAngarano.

Military architectures

Castello degli Ezzelini (or upper castle)
The castle never belonged to the Ezzelini or to any other lord since it was “built by the will of the inhabitants” as a collective defense action . The oldest structures of the castle still visible include the lower parts of towers and walls. The square in front was a market place and meeting place. During the 13th century a new boundary wall was built up to the north pentagonal tower. The Ortazzo tower was also built and the tower of Ser Ivano and the church bell tower were restored. In the thirteenth centurya new enclosure was built to protect the villages that grew externally and at the end of the 14th century the last extension, still partially visible in viale delle Fosse, dates back. In the fifteenth centurythe fortification was still active before passing to the Venetian dominion, later it was abandoned and transformed.

Since the 19th of the 20th century the castle has been the subject of restoration. The Guard Corps is located at the entrance to the path of the walls of the Castle of Bassano del Grappa. It is a space enclosed by the historical boundary and has an irregular quadrilateral shape with sides of about two meters and with walls of variable height (from 13.50 meters to about 7.50 meters) made of pebbles and bricks in alternating rows according to the technique in use at the time. On the southwest corner stands the tower of Ser Ivano, 27 meters high. The two east and west sides of the walls are free,

Porta delle Grazie, or Porta Aureola
It was the ancient north-eastern access to the city of Bassano del Grappa. Without a shadow of a doubt it is the best preserved Porta di Bassano, the classical lines of the architecture can still be recognized. Porta delle Grazie is part of the walls built in the sixteenth century, the recessed columns that support the architrave, the frieze and the tympanum are still evident today. The work was commissioned by Podestà Veneto in 1561, the realization of the project was assigned to an architect of the place contemporary of the more famous Andrea Palladio.

The nearby Church of Santa Maria delle Grazie houses some small artistic treasures by Jacopo da Bassano and Battista di Vicenzaamong which a Crucifixion stands out in which the ancient Ponte Vecchio is also depicted: the first figurative testimony of the symbol of Bassano. The panorama that opens up in the area adjacent to the Porta delle Grazie is truly suggestive: the Asiago plateau on the left and the Grappa massif on the right are the background and frame this place, which, not surprisingly, takes the name of Belvedere.

Door Dieda
Located near what was once the Lower Castle known as the Berri, built in 1315 by the Paduan to protect the new villages built outside the walls. In 1389 the entire complex was incorporated into the walls built by Gian Galeazzo Visconti, but the Castle fell into disrepair and was soon replaced by civilian residences. The door remains, opened in 1541 by the podestà Domenico Diedo, in order to be able to communicate directly with the new housing realities that have grown more and more over time. The south facade was adorned with recently restored frescoes: in the upper part a mighty winged lion with the book, a manifesto of political loyalty to the dominant Venice, and in the lower part Marco Curzio Rufus on a rearing horse in the act of throwing himself armed into the chasm, paradigmatic example of courage. The latter was built by Jacopo Da Ponte and only a few traces remain.

Civic tower
Probably built between the twenties and forties of the thirteenth century,but the most probable date is that of 1312 when, on the occasion of the extension of the walls of the second enclosure, it came to constitute an important defensive and protective episode for the new village grown outside the walls. In fact, it was distinguished by the important measures in height, width and thickness of the masonry, the powerful truncated pyramid base, the lack of decorations. In the documentation it appears in 1349 when a bell weighing 500 kilograms was placed. From this moment on it was registered in the name of the Municipalitywhich provided for the maintenance and payment of the caretakers. The keepers performed various duties but the main task was to look down from above and to announce riots, calamities or threats of assault.

The name “civic tower”, was attributed to it since in 1494 a stone door was opened at the base with the coat of arms of the city painted on it. In 1625 the door was perforated to give light to the caretaker’s house and connected to the ground with a wooden staircase whose steps in 1727 were partly replaced by others in stone. On the other hand, the year in which the honorary emblem of Venice was painted in fresco is not known. During the XVIIIcentury was equipped with a clock and in the nineteenth century the apical rise on the top. Certainly the tower stands out in a particular way compared to all the other historic city buildings for its centrality in the urban layout and for the fact that it dominates it with its height (43 meters). After a recent and important restoration it was reopened to the public.

Squares

Freedom Square
Formerly “Piazza dei Signori”, it is the showcase for Sunday strolls. Obtained by filling the moat that surrounded the second circle of walls of Bassano, it was first called Piazza San Giovanni, from the name of the church that was built there in 1308. From 1867 it was dedicated to Vittorio Emanuele II king of Italy and during the Second World War it was called Piazza del Popolo, then Piazza Libertà.

On the western edge of the square, on two columns, there is a statue with the Lion of San Marco, symbol of Venetian domination, and a statue of San Bassiano, patron saint of the city, the work of the Bassano sculptor Orazio Marinali (1643-1720). The Saint,bishop of Lodi between the 4th and 5th centuries, he never landed on the banks of the Brenta: the Bassanese, however, chose him as their protector in 1509 for the similarity of his name to that of their city and for his thaumaturgical faculties against recurrent plagues. The square is the nodal point of the city where the main streets of the center converge, prestigious buildings overlook to the north, including the houses of the ancient Remondini printing house (which brought the name of Bassano all over the world) and the Loggia del Comune, and to the south the imposing neoclassical facade of the church of San Giovanni Battista.

Garibaldi square
The Bassanese custom calls this square “piazza della Fontana” or “piazza delle Erbe”, because the vegetable market was held there for centuries. The square, definitively arranged by Antonio Gaidon in 1776, is dominated, to the north, by the civic tower while to the south are the church of San Francesco and the Civic Museum. In 1898 the arrival of a water pipeline which, drawing from the Fontanazzi springs, brought pure spring water to the center, represented a fact of even national importance. The work was celebrated with the construction of the Bonaguro fountain almost in the center of the square. The work was created by the sculptor Carlo Spazziand named after the then mayor Antonio Bonaguro, who donated it to the community on the occasion of the inauguration of the public aqueduct.

Piazzotto Montevecchio
It was located within the second circle of walls and in the mid- thirteenth century in this area stood the House of the Municipality and the Ezzelinian residences. In the center of the square there was a well, which is why it is still often called “piazza del pozzo” today. It was also known by the names of “Piazza del Sale” and then “Piazza degli Zoccoli”, since until the mid- twentieth century this was a market place where numerous street vendors gathered to sell the “sgalmare”, characteristic wooden clogs. The first square of Bassano was once much larger. The warehouse of the Grani also overlooked it, later renovated and used (1494) as a Monte di Pietà: the severe “Monte Vecchio”, which gives its name to the place and which bears the oldest coat of arms of the city: two rampant lions on the sides of a tower.

The piazzotto was also an extraordinary open-air art gallery. On its eastern front, the Michieli-Bonato house was frescoed with biblical scenes, partly still visible, by Francesco and Bartolomeo Nasocchio, contemporaries of the Da Ponte family. The adjoining Casa dal Corno-Bonato had decorations with cherubs, animals and allegorical motifs by Jacopo Da Ponte. This frieze was detached to be restored in 1975 and was later placed in the Civic Museum (1982).

Terraglio Square
The current space arose over time from the burial of the moat and from the demolition to the south of the outer wall of the same Castle which in the Ezzelinian circle was protected by a double wall. The municipal concession that in 1400 allowed the so-called “chioare” or “chiodare” to be built in this area, a kind of open enclosure with a shed for drying and pulling clothes, produced by the wool businesses leaning against the river, is interesting.

Piazzale Cadorna
It was known as the Caravaggio district or village which included small gardens, stables, huts, warehouses and a small church dedicated to the Madonna del Caravaggio, built in 1706 at the behest of Caterina Brocchi, then the seat of the Congregation of San Luigi Gonzaga and then called Church of San Luigi.

Museums
Bassano is a city full of museums, created by public and private will over the last three centuries.

Civic Museums of Bassano del Grappa
In national and international importance are the Civic Museums of Bassano del Grappa, founded in 1828 by the will of Gian Battista Brocchi, among the oldest museums in the Venetian hinterland, they collect the largest pictorial collection in the world by Jacopo Bassano as well as a unique collection. of three thousand autographed drawings, letters, sketches, plaster casts and the unique series of monochromes by Antonio Canova.

The Museum of Ceramics
The Museum of Ceramics has been housed in Palazzo Sturm since 1992, consisting of majolica, porcelain and earthenware, for a total of approximately 1200 pieces exhibited chronologically in over ten rooms; and since 2007 in cohabitation the Remondini Printing Museum, dedicated to the family of the same name which in the eighteenth century was the largest production reality dedicated to intaglio and typography existing in Europe.

Poli Museo del Grappa
In particular importance, in the city, created by private initiative, are the Poli Museo del Grappa, owned by the distillery of the same name, which consists of five suggestive rooms with texts in Italian and English and video projection in various languages. The museum has about 12,000 monthly visitors, making it one of the most visited business museums in Italy;

The Hemingway and Great War Museum
The Hemingway and Great War Museum, centered on the life and works of Ernest Hemingway, a volunteer of the American Red Cross during the First World War in Bassano; the Museo degli Alpini, established in 1948 and dedicated to the collection of finds and testimonies of the Great War,

The Capuchin Museum
The Capuchin Museum housed in the convent of the same name which exhibits objects of worship (ancient Gospels, vestments, reliquaries) and materials of various uses (pottery and kitchen tools) from nearby convents

The Museum of Computer
The Museum of Computer, which gathers in three rooms manuals, peripherals, accessories and more than 70 consoles and computers from the eighties to the present day.

Cuisine
Bassano is also distinguished by a particular taste in food and wine. From the famous white asparagus to peas, beans in sauce, pink onion, savory Bassanese broccoli, the aforementioned Asiago, the typical “sopressa”, cherries from nearby Marostica. Everything speaks of a propensity of the territory towards the pleasures of a simple but high quality table.

For the hungry and curious tourist there are clubs of all kinds: from the characteristic Venetian tavern (“caneva”) to many types of trattoria and restaurant for every taste and every pocket, with a marked inclination to respect the Bassanese and Venetian tradition.

Outdoor activities
In the naturalistic and sporting aspect, every corner is a window on green landscapes and an extraordinary opportunity both for a “gentle” tourism and for a more gritty sporty one. The territory offers several opportunities: from rowing on the Brenta to paragliding on the peaks of the Grappa, from historical and environmental hiking through restored trenches and flowery slopes to the simpler turns on the sweet hills of Marostica.