Today was our last in Vicenza. We decided to take in two major attractions: first the Gallerie d'Italia-Palazzo Leoni Montinari and after the Civic Art Gallery of Palazzo Chiericati. Both were very close to our hotel. I must say that our location in Vincenza could not have been better for enjoying the historical centre and for seeing the major attractions. Today we were allowed to take photos in both museums as long as we did not use flash. Our best pictures are on Wally's camera as it has terrific low light capacity. However, since I am doing the blog using my iPhone, all the blog shots are taken with it, and I don't have the newest model with the best camera. YET. Back to the museums, the first one is housed in a 17th century palazzo with all kinds of over the top Baroque decoration. There were three kinds of art: Venetian paintings from the 18th century, Grecian vases from 3rd and 4th century BC, and a display of Russian religious icons. My favourite piece was a sculpture from the mid 1700's made from a single block of marble containing 60 figures representing Michael and the fallen angels. It was the sculpting not the subject that impressed me. Not even the Greeks had done something like this!
Our second stop, the civic gallery, had the most enthusiastic group of museum monitors I have ever come across. They insisted we see every square inch of their museum which, I have to say, was quite interesting. The building which houses the civic gallery was designed by Palladio and is considered to be one of his masterpieces. The collection housed there included paintings, frescoes, sculptures and the personal collection of one of Vicenza's leading artistic patrons. I've included a few shots to give you an idea of the kinds of things we saw. One of the ceiling frescoes showed the signs of the zodiac, so you will see Wally's sign near the end of the photos.
Later in the day, we had a nice walk followed by a delicious dinner at a restaurant we had discovered earlier in the week. Tomorrow morning we leave by train for Florence and the start of the birthday week-end.
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