The last leg was Palladio country and a single night on the water. I checked out of Parma on the 3rd of August, broke the drive in Verona, gave Vicenza three nights in a frescoed suite on its grandest street, then dropped the car at Marco Polo airport for one last day in Venice: a canal under the window, a gondola at golden hour and dinner without leaving the hotel.
Verona, on the way
Verona made the perfect break in the drive from Parma to Vicenza. In a few minutes on foot you take in Piazza delle Erbe, with the Madonna Verona fountain and the baroque Palazzo Maffei at its end, the Gothic tombs of the Arche Scaligere and the Roman Arena, which I saw from outside before driving on.
If you're stopping for lunch, the roof terrace at the Due Torri Hotel, beside the church of Sant'Anastasia and two minutes from Piazza delle Erbe, is a good choice. It looks across a sea of terracotta to the Duomo's bell tower, the Torre dei Lamberti and the cypress-dotted hill of Castel San Pietro, and the hotel's lobby, with its chequerboard marble floors, painted coffered ceilings and Murano chandeliers, is worth a look on the way up. Expect hotel-terrace prices and a short menu; the terrace is seasonal and exposed at midday in high summer.
Vicenza: Palladio's city
Palazzo Scamozzi · 4.5/5
A 28-room hotel in a palazzo on Corso Palladio, the main street of the old town, and the right way to do Vicenza. My Junior Suite had a frescoed and stuccoed ceiling with a Murano chandelier hanging from the centre, tall windows straight onto the Corso, and a big bathroom with a corner bath and a speckled terrazzo floor. The old bones and the new fittings sit together without fuss, with no clutter and no throw-pillow nonsense, and lying in bed looking up at that ceiling was the best part of the day. Staff and breakfast both get consistent praise.
Another amazing ceiling, seen from bed.
The caveats are practical. The hotel is in a pedestrian zone, so you drive in only to unload, and parking nearby has to be booked. Other room types are much smaller (from about 14 m²), so the suite is worth the upgrade. Guests score it 9.4/10, and complaints are hard to find.
Villa La Rotonda · 5/5
Palladio's most famous building, and the one every architecture student draws. He designed it in the 1560s as a retreat for the cleric Paolo Almerico, and Vincenzo Scamozzi finished it after Palladio's death. It's perfectly symmetrical, with four identical temple porticoes, and turned 45 degrees so that every room gets the sun. I went inside on a Sunday morning: the domed central hall rises to a frescoed cupola, and the corner rooms have heavy stucco ceilings and painted panels. It's still owned by the Valmarana family.
The interior opens only on some days (Friday to Sunday in season), and it's a short visit, more about proportion than contents. Check the official site before you drive out.
Villa Valmarana ai Nani · 5/5
A few hundred metres from La Rotonda, and for me the better visit. In 1757 Giustino Valmarana brought in Giambattista Tiepolo to fresco the main house with scenes from the Iliad, the Aeneid, Tasso and Ariosto, while his son Giandomenico painted the guesthouse. The colour is extraordinary close up, and the rooms are still furnished, so it feels like a house rather than a museum. The garden looks across to the basilica on Monte Berico. Entry is about €12.
There's little to fault. It's easy to miss if you only come for La Rotonda, and opening hours change with the season, so check before you go. Do both villas in one morning; they're a ten-minute walk apart.
Piazza dei Signori and Parco Querini
My last full day in Vicenza was a slow one. Piazza dei Signori is the town's stage: Palladio wrapped the Gothic hall of the Basilica in a double tier of white marble loggias, and across the square stands his red-brick Loggia del Capitaniato, never finished. From there I took a picnic up to Parco Querini, a walled park on the edge of the centre where rabbits roam the lawns.
One night in Venice
I dropped the hire car at Marco Polo airport on the morning of the 6th and spent the day on foot, on a gondola and at the table. Venice's access fee for day-trippers doesn't apply to visitors staying overnight in the city, but check the current rules for your dates.
Hotel Ai Reali · 4.5/5
A Small Luxury Hotels palazzo on a quiet canal between Rialto and San Marco, and exactly what a last night in Venice should look like. The Junior Suite is about 40 m², with a cream-and-gold stucco ceiling, a Murano chandelier and windows over a side canal where the gondolas slide past below. The public rooms are dark-panelled salons with more chandeliers, and breakfast is served in a room with Gothic windows; prosecco at breakfast set the tone. There's a spa, an altana roof terrace and the Alle Corone restaurant downstairs. Guests score it 9.6/10.
Book the suite or a canal-view room, because the Classic rooms start at about 14 m².
La Porta d'Acqua · 4/5
A restaurant and cocktail bar in a 15th-century palazzo on the Grand Canal, a few steps from the Rialto Bridge, with tables on the Riva looking across at the palaces opposite. The menu mixes Venetian and Campanian cooking, land and sea, and lunch here was gratinated scallops in the shell and a big dish of mussels, with the vaporetti going past.
This is the most expensive stretch of waterfront in the city, and the restaurant prices to match. Come for the canal and a long lunch rather than a culinary discovery.
St Mark's and the Piazzetta
The afternoon was the classic Venice loop: the Rialto Bridge, then St Mark's Basilica, then a spritz at a café table under the arcade of the Libreria on the Piazzetta, looking straight at the Doge's Palace. The basilica is worth booking ahead in summer, and the dress code (covered shoulders and knees) is enforced.
Gondola ride · 4.5/5
Touristy, yes, and completely worth it. At seven in the evening the light goes gold, and the route takes you off the lagoon past the Doge's Palace and straight under the Bridge of Sighs, then into the quiet back canals of Castello where the only sound is the gondolier's oar.
It's expensive for half an hour, and the rate is fixed by the city, with a higher evening tariff, so agree the route and the time before you step in. Early evening beats the midday crush on the canals.
Alle Corone · 4.5/5
The hotel's own restaurant, listed by Michelin: three elegant small rooms, and a wine room you can dine in on request. The cooking is Venetian and Mediterranean with a modern hand, and the plating is part of the show. Mine was a long dinner of beautiful plates: ravioli with mussels on sculpted white porcelain, a stuffed courgette flower, and seared beef to finish.
It's priced as fine dining, it opens for dinner only (closed on Wednesdays), and three small rooms mean booking is essential in summer. On a one-night stay it saves you hunting for a table, which is no small thing in Venice.
The next morning I left the only way you should: a water taxi down the Grand Canal, past the Ca' d'Oro and across the lagoon to the airport.
