Prato Della Valle

After 40 minutes driving distance by highway, you will reach Padua, one of the most important art cities in Italy. The city, that was an important Roman Empire site which very little is left today, develops from the Middle Ages under the rule of the Carrara family. Worth a note, its university center dates back to 1222, just after the one of Bologna. As an art city, we can admire a masterpiece of the Italian medieval art: the Scrovegni Chapel that Giotto frescoed to the Carrara family. It is required a pre-booked ticket to visit this building that must be purchased from their website. Close by, the church of the Hermits where Mantegna made some masterpiece of the Venetian Renaissance. Unfortunately today we can see just part of these frescoes because the rest was lost during a World War II bombing raid. Padua is also the city of St Anthony. In the basilica there are the relics of the saint, an important religious site visited by pilgrims coming from all over the world. And near this area, for botany lovers (and not only), we find the first university botanic garden in Europe. Founded in 1545, it is included the UNESCO World Heritage List, and member of Botanic Gardens Conservation International. Of particular value is the historic center with the Herbs squares and remarkable buildings. Worth a stop the Caffé Pedrocchi, the historic site of the Italian Risorgimento. This can be a right solution for your lunch.

On your way back to Venice you will drive along the Brenta waterway that is the most famous and attended itinerary among those suggested to visit the Venetian villas. A waterway long about forty kilometers, which links Venice to Padua by tracing the course of an ancient branch of the river Brenta. From the fifteenth century, it was channeled and harnessed by locks for the navigation. You will have time to visit Villa Pisani (now National Museum), a huge and imposing complex built in the eighteenth century. After a coffee break in a picturesque little town along the river, you will return back to Venice, at the same place from where you started your tour.