Veneto

Veneto holds one of the most extraordinary cities in the world, Venice, with its canals, palaces and lagoon islands such as Murano and Burano. Inland are Verona, the city of Romeo and Juliet with its Roman arena, Padua with Giotto's frescoes, and Vicenza with the villas of Palladio.

To the north the Dolomites rise around Cortina d'Ampezzo, while the hills of Prosecco and the eastern shore of Lake Garda add wine and water to a region that has something for every season.

From the Dolomites to the lagoon

Veneto is one of the most visited regions in Italy, and not only thanks to Venice. In a few hours' drive you go from the peaks of the Dolomites, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, to the Prosecco hills, from the eastern shore of Lake Garda to the Adriatic beaches, passing art cities such as Verona, Padua and Vicenza. The Most Serene Republic of Venice governed this land for centuries and left its mark everywhere: the lion of Saint Mark on town squares, the villas of Venetian patricians along the Brenta and in the countryside, harbours and fortresses. Today Veneto combines a great artistic tradition with a dynamic economy and a cuisine rich in local produce.

Venice and the lagoon

Venice is like no other city. Built on more than a hundred islands linked by bridges, it is explored on foot and by vaporetto, the water bus. Saint Mark's Square, with the golden mosaic basilica, the Doge's Palace and the Campanile, is the monumental heart; the Grand Canal, lined with Gothic and Renaissance palaces, is best seen from a boat between the Rialto Bridge and the Salute church. To really understand the city, though, it pays to get lost in the quieter districts: Cannaregio with the Jewish Ghetto, Castello with the Arsenale, Dorsoduro with the Accademia Galleries and the Guggenheim Collection. In the lagoon, Murano is the island of glass, Burano the island of lace and brightly painted houses, Torcello has the oldest cathedral in the lagoon and the Lido offers beaches and the Venice Film Festival.

Verona, Padua and Vicenza

Verona is the city of Romeo and Juliet, but above all a fascinating Roman and medieval city: the Arena, where an opera season is staged every summer, Piazza delle Erbe, the Scaliger Tombs, Castelvecchio and the stone bridge over the Adige. Padua has one of the oldest universities in the world, where Galileo taught, the Scrovegni Chapel frescoed by Giotto, the Basilica of Saint Anthony, a major pilgrimage site, and the Botanical Garden, the oldest still in its original location; the frescoes and the garden are both UNESCO-listed. Vicenza is the city of Andrea Palladio: the Basilica Palladiana, the Teatro Olimpico and, just outside town, the Villa Rotonda are masterpieces that influenced architecture across half the world.

Venetian villas and the Brenta Riviera

Between the sixteenth and eighteenth centuries Venetian patrician families built hundreds of villas on the mainland, serving both as farm estates and as summer retreats. Along the Brenta Riviera, between Padua and Venice, stand residences such as Villa Pisani in Stra, with its hedge maze, and Palladio's Malcontenta, which can also be seen on river cruises. In the countryside around Treviso and Vicenza are Villa Barbaro in Maser, frescoed by Veronese, and Villa Emo in Fanzolo. Many villas are open to visitors; some house museums, others have become hotels or event venues.

The Prosecco hills and the foothills

Between Conegliano and Valdobbiadene, the Prosecco Superiore hills, a UNESCO site, form a landscape of extremely steep vineyards, churches on the ridges and small villages. The Prosecco Wine Road links wineries where you can taste the sparkling wine straight from the producer. Not far away, Asolo is the town of a hundred horizons, loved by poets and travellers; Bassano del Grappa has the famous wooden Alpini bridge, designed by Palladio, and a long tradition of grappa distilling. Treviso, a town of canals and water mills, is the birthplace of tiramisù and home of red radicchio.

The Dolomites and Lake Garda

Northern Veneto is true mountain country. Cortina d'Ampezzo, queen of the Dolomites, is surrounded by peaks such as the Tofane, Cristallo and the Cinque Torri, and hosted the Winter Olympics in 1956 and again in 2026. The Three Peaks of Lavaredo, on the border with South Tyrol, are one of the symbols of the Alps, while Cadore, Agordino and the Zoldo valley offer quieter trails, mountain huts and ski slopes. To the west, the Veneto shore of Lake Garda has villages such as Bardolino, a red wine town, Lazise, Garda and Malcesine, where a cable car climbs Monte Baldo, called the garden of Europe for the richness of its flora. The Po Delta, in the south, is a flat world of canals, fishing lagoons and migrating birds.

The Adriatic coast

The Veneto coast is made up of long, well-equipped sandy beaches that are ideal for families. Jesolo, Caorle with its colourful old town and seaside sanctuary, Bibione, Eraclea and Sottomarina, next to Chioggia, the fishermen's little Venice, are the most popular resorts. Chioggia, with its canals and fish market, is also an excellent place to eat fresh Adriatic seafood.

Venetian food and wine

Venetian cooking is as varied as its landscape. In Venice people go from one bacaro to another, the wine bars where you drink an ombra, a small glass of wine, and eat cicchetti, small bites such as creamed salt cod, sweet-and-sour sardines and meatballs. Risotto, made with radicchio, white asparagus from Bassano, peas or seafood, and polenta, served with cheese, mushrooms and meat, are the great classics of the mainland. Bigoli pasta in anchovy sauce, Venetian-style liver, Verona's pandoro cake and Asiago and Monte Veronese cheeses are other signature products. As for wine, Veneto offers Prosecco, Amarone and Valpolicella, Soave, Bardolino and Lugana, as well as the Spritz, the aperitif that was born here.

Spas, hills and traditions

A few kilometres south of Padua, the Euganean Hills are a group of volcanic hills covered with vineyards, chestnut woods and villas, with villages such as Arquà Petrarca, where the poet Petrarch spent his last years. At their foot, Abano Terme and Montegrotto form one of the largest thermal spa areas in Europe, famous for its mud treatments. Traditions worth experiencing include the Venice Carnival, with its masks and eighteenth-century costumes, the Historical Regatta on the Grand Canal in September, the Feast of the Redeemer in July, with fireworks over the Saint Mark's basin, and the opera season at the Verona Arena. In Marostica, every two years, a game of chess is played with living pieces in costume on the castle square.

When to go and how to get around

Venice is beautiful all year round, but it is crowded in summer, during Carnival and on long holiday weekends: November, January and March are the quietest months, even if high tides sometimes flood the lower parts of the city. For the art cities and the hills the best periods are April to June and September to October, when the grapes are harvested. The Dolomites are best from June to September for hiking and from December to April for skiing, the beaches from June to September. Veneto has an excellent rail network linking Venice, Padua, Vicenza, Verona and Treviso quickly; for the villas, the hills and the mountains a car is useful. The main airports are Venice Marco Polo, Treviso and Verona.