Vicenza - Monday

We have a lovely large modern room at the Relais Santa Corona, and the breakfast was amazing this morning. So hard to restrain oneself, and I think I am becoming a little too accustomed to eating cake for breakfast in addition to all the other delicious items being offered. Monday is generally a closed day for museums in Italy and that is certainly the case here in Vicenza. However, Vicenza's Basillica Palladiana is hosting an art exhibit right now entitled "Tutankhamon, Carvaggio and Van Gogh - Evenings and Night from the Egyptians to the 20th century".  We decided to go and were not disappointed.  In fact, we found ourselves discussing it the rest of the day. The exhibit contains 120 original masterpieces from many renowned international artists, among them Carvaggio, Monet, Gaugin, Tintoretto, Van Gogh, Gainsborough, Mark Rothko and more. The show describes the interplay between evening and night throughout the history of art. Wally and I spent well over two hours viewing it and were impressed with the pieces which had been selected from 30 galleries all over the world for this presentation which runs until June. We rented English audio guides which were very helpful in getting the most from our visit.  We were not permitted to use cameras, so our photos today are restricted to scenes from the terrace of the Basillica where we ate lunch and to our walk around the centre of Vicenza after the art exhibit.  I should add that the Basillica was never built as a church but as a meeting place for the local dignitaries. It makes an impressive venue for an part exhibit. Our post-art walk ended up at the gelato shop.  We just couldn't resist, and our Italian is surprisingly good when it comes to ordering a cone of gelato!