The tour includes in the morning a visit to Villa Badoèr, known as La Badoèra, a site recognized by UNESCO as a World Heritage Site.
Villa Badoer is a Venetian villa located in Fratta Polesine(Rovigo), designed by architect Andrea Palladio and built between 1556-1563 and atrue pride of Polesine architecture .
Architecturally, it has a façade reminiscent of the aesthetics of Greek temples, with a triangular tympanum and a colonnade in the Ionic order, completed by a scenic staircase, with barchesse (barns) arranged in a hemicycle on either side: a unique example among Palladio’s villas.
Inside are the service rooms in the basement, above them the living quarters on the piano nobile and finally, in the attic, the granary. The pronaos and the main floor are frescoed with allegorical, pastoral, mythological and sometimes grotesque scenes by the painter Giallo Fiorentino.
Today, the barchesse house the National Archaeological Museum of Fratta Polesine, which exhibits a significant collection of artefacts from the Bronze Age found in the Veneto region and in particular in the archaeological complex of the ancient village of Frattesina and its necropolis, near Fratta Pol. one of the most important in Europe for the Final Bronze Age (12th-10th century B.C.), where important finds of artefacts in bone, wood, amber, iron and gold are exhibited.
At the end of the Fratta Pol. museum visit, the tour will continue with lunch at a restaurant.
In the afternoon, around 2:30 to 3:00 p.m., the tour will resume with a Vespa excursion of the Polesine territory until we reach the city of Rovigo, the capital of Polesine, where we will explore the city rich in architectural testimonies present along the city streets that tell of a city born as an episcopal fief that in the medieval period was enriched in monuments and palaces.
Prominent among them are the Torre Donà characteristic for its slope (a medieval tower believed to be among the tallest in Italy), the emblem of the city, and the Torre Grimani called “Torre Mozza,” evidence of the ancient medieval castle and its walls.
Of particular interest is the Sanctuary of the Beata Vergine del Soccorso, known as ‘La Rotonda’ for its octagonal plan, an extraordinary building, highly evocative thanks to its lines. Since the Renaissance, great architects theorised that a circular shape, or one that could be traced back to the circle, was the most suitable for symbolising perfection and therefore perfect for a sacred building. The church dates back to the years between the 16th and 17th centuries and was built for the purpose of preserving the image of the Madonna and Child, which is strongly venerated by the people of Rovigo.
Inside, the Beata Vergine del Soccorso has walls covered with canvases and sculptures that make it a compendium of 17th-century Veneto art, and the sumptuous gilded wooden high altar, which frames at its centre the venerated image of the Madonna del Soccorso, to whom miraculous gifts are attributed
At the end of the excursion, we plan to return to Montegrotto to Vespa Village.
