travelswithalice

July 21, 2005

 

Museo Civico, the former Palazzo Chiericati


Back in the town center, we parked in front of the Museo Civico. What was once a grand house with a commanding position in the heart of town, the former Palazzo Chiericati now sports a public carpark just off its front steps. 





To round off the Palladio experience, we strolled through the beautiful barchessa of the town hall which is incongruously called the Basilica, and had a quick after-hours peek through the gates of the Teatro Romano. We had already sat in the venerable bleacher seats of the magnificent theater on earlier visits so we didn’t much mind being shut out this time for arriving too late in the day.

That evening, we walked past seedy-looking Hotel Vicenza and Hotel Palladio, two of the slim pickings we turned down earlier that day on our search for new lodgings. 

We had consulted the tourist information office about the local music and food scene and had made the all important decision to go for au courant rather than tipica. 

At Dai Nodari, a bookshop-cum-library that was also a bar and restaurant, we had a non-tipica dinner. Onstage a jazz band played old swing standards. When the band took a break, Charlie Chaplin’s “The Dictator” was screened on a high wall. 

There was a fairly appreciative crowd of what we hoped were local cognoscenti; we had carefully steered clear of obvious tourist traps and craved reassurance that we were in the right place. 

The evening gave us a new perspective on Vicenza.  This city, which has the gravitas of really old buildings and the vibrancy of young sophisticates, likes American jazz and California cuisine.




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