From the Serenissima to the Polesine, from the Prosecco hills to the mountains
Bellunesi: a journey through an area built from the encounter between history, landscapes and
local knowledge.
Veneto is one of the most present Italian regions in the international imagination, but also
one of the most exposed to the risk of simplification. Venice is its most immediate symbol,
with its lagoon, the buildings on the water and the legacy of the Serenissima; and yet, around this
icon, a much larger territory opens up. Italian Traditions tells the story of a Veneto that does not
It coincides only with its symbolic capital, but passes through cities of art, mountains,
countryside, rivers and productive districts.
Venetian history begins well before the rise of Venice. In pre-Roman age, the area
of the current region was inhabited by the ancient Veneti, or Paleoveneti, an Italic population
remembered by classical sources and surrounded by legendary traditions that connected them
the origin to the East, Paphlagonia and the Trojan myth. According to an ancient narrative, some
groups would have arrived in Italy following Antenore, a figure also associated with the foundation
of Padua. Beyond the mythical tale, that presence helped define a first identity
of the area, later included in the Roman world and in the Augustan Regio X, the Venetia et Histria.
Padua, Verona, Vicenza, Treviso and other centers of the plain maintained a role over the centuries
strong urban, destined to resurface in the municipal age and in the long relationship with the
Most Serene.
With Venice, the center of gravity shifted toward the lagoon. The city was born and grew up among islands, canals and
trade routes, until it became a maritime power capable of looking at the
Eastern Mediterranean, to the Adriatic and to international traffic. His story, however, did not remain
confined to water. When the Republic extended its control over the mainland, the
Veneto took on a more complex face: the maritime and commercial dimension was intertwined
with the management of the countryside, with the inland cities, manufacturing and new forms of
organization of the territory.
This passage is still visible along the Riviera del Brenta, where the Venetian villas make
the relationship between Venetian nobility and the countryside is evident. They were not mere residences of
holiday, but representative places and, at the same time, centres linked to the management of
agricultural funds.
Vicenza represents one of the highest points of this architectural season. Here Andrea
Palladius transformed the language of classical antiquity into a new model, capable of
dialogue with the city. From urban palaces to villas in the area, his work gave to the Veneto
a deep imprint, so much so that the site “City of Vicenza and the Palladio Villas in the Veneto” is
entered the UNESCO World Heritage List.
The landscape changes face with each move. Verona brings with it the Roman legacy
of the Arena, the medieval profile of the Scaligeri and a strong link with Garda. Padua unites
urban antiquity to the great university tradition, to the Basilica of Sant’Antonio, to the
frescoes by Giotto in the Scrovegni Chapel and to a city life still strongly
dynamics. Treviso shows a more intimate face, between porticoes, squares and canals, linked to an area
productive that goes up towards the hills.
To the north, the Dolomites open up a completely different dimension from the lagoon one.
Cortina d’Ampezzo, Cadore, Agordino and the Belluno valleys show a territory
mountain, marked by communities that have grown in direct relationship with the surrounding environment:
pastures, woods, traditional crafts and a local culture crossed by Ladin influences and
Central Europeans.
Between the plain and the Prealps open the Prosecco hills of Conegliano and Valdobbiadene,
recognized by UNESCO as a cultural landscape. Here rows, cilions, villages and vineyards
follow the trend of the surveys and show how viticulture has given shape, over time, to
a territory deeply marked by agricultural work, where production and local identity
remain closely linked.
Further south, the Polesine offers an even different image. It is a low, riverine land, narrow
between the Po and Adige, shaped over the centuries by embankments, canals and reclamation. Rovigo is its center
main, a city secluded from the major tourist circuits, but linked to a civil and
religious woman who emerges in the historic center, from Piazza Vittorio Emanuele II to the Rotonda,
temple with an octagonal plan begun at the end of the sixteenth century. Towards the Adriatic, the Delta of the
Po opens one of the most unique environments in the Veneto: a vast recognized wetland
UNESCO Biosphere Reserve in 2015, where fishing, agriculture, lagoons, valleys and biodiversity
they coexist in a fragile balance, continually redefined by the encounter between river and sea.
This articulation is also reflected in the economy. Veneto is one of the most productive areas
important in Italy, built on small and medium-sized enterprises, districts, crafts and
manufacturing specializations. Murano glass, Burano lace, the glasses of the
Belluno, tanning and fashion in the Vicenza area, furniture, mechanics, agri-food and
wine are the result of a production model rooted in the places. Not a single center
dominant, but a network of skills often born from local traditions and then transformed into
business.
The cuisine also follows this internal geography. In Venice, fish dominate, the Sardinians in
saor, creamed cod, cicchetti and the sociality of the bacari, alongside dishes such as
Venetian liver and rice and bisi. In the hinterland appear polenta, risottos, radicchio
from Treviso, Bassano asparagus, bigoli, Asiago and, in the Verona area, more robust preparations
like pastissada de caval and boiled with pearà. Even tiramisu, linked to tradition
Treviso, belongs to this gastronomic heritage. The spritz, now a symbol
international aperitif, remains linked to a conviviality born between squares, taverns and
everyday life.
It is precisely in this variety that Veneto finds its strength. Not in the existence of just one
center, nor in a landscape capable of summarizing it all, but in the coexistence of different realities
who keep talking to each other. From the Venice Lagoon to the Belluno Dolomites, from the villas of the
mainland to the Po territories, the region cannot be reduced to a single image: it is precisely
changing face that retains its own identity.