The Veneto includes the eastern part of the Po Valley and, to the north, a part of the Dolomites. The extensive plain, with the Po delta, is rich in waters. It is a region which combines two different and unique aspects of the Italian nature: the lagoon zone (Venice) and the majestic peaks of the Dolomites of Cadore.
The regional capital is Venice. Other important cities are: Verona, Padua, Vicenza, Treviso, Rovigo, Belluno.
For centuries the Venetian Republic ruled most of the northeastern region called the Veneto, but many of those inland cities had been around for centuries when the city of Venice was officially founded with the election of its first doge in A.D. 726. As ancient Roman strongholds, these cities had already lived through a glorious period. Verona has even been called "Little Rome" for its wealth of Roman sites and magnificent ancient amphitheater.
Until Napoléon arrived in 1797 -- whereupon he donated Venice to Austria (where it would remain until 1866) and broke up the regional power structure -- the Veneto shared in the bounty of the Serene Republic, its countryside a mixture of vineyards, fields, and decorous summer villas. Many of the Palladian villas that dot the hills of the Veneto were once the extravagant summertime legacy of wealthy Venetian merchants whose urban palazzi-cum-warehouses lined Venice's Grand Canal. The Veneto also boasts buildings that show the Byzantine-Oriental influence so prominent in Venice's Gothic architecture, some adorned with frescoes by Giotto, and later by the Venetian masters Tiepolo, Veronese, Titian, and Tintoretto. Columns topped by the winged-lion mascot of St. Mark and representing the Most Serene Republic -- a symbol of those distant, often glorious times -- still stand in the main squares of the Veneto's three great city centers: Padua, Vicenza, and Verona.
The Veneto, and Verona especially, plays an all-important role in the production and exportation of wines: Soave, Bardolino, and Valpolicello are world-recognized labels that originate in these acclaimed vineyards. No other region in Italy produces as many DOC (Denominazione di Origine Controllata, zones of controlled name and origin) red wines as the Veneto. The rich volcanic earth of the Colli Euganei produces a good number of these, while a light and fizzy prosecco hails from the hills around Asolo. Wine is an integral element in any meal; it is no compromise to limit yourself to the local regional wines that are some of Europe's finest. |
