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Following the signs for Arsiero, the route continues on towards Tonezza del Cimone, renamed “Vena di Fonte Alta” in Piccolo mondo moderno (The Man of the World) and described movingly by Fogazzaro:

Towering above the abyss that encircles them, the pine forests and beech groves of Vena wave against a background of sky, spotted here and there with pale emerald, where the fields press them asunder and overflow, and dotted with red and white where small houses are huddled together in groups. He who contemplates them from the top of the sloping and soaring Picco Astore, or of the lofty, cloud-capped mountains of Val di Rovese and of Val di Posina, may not realize their delicate and exquisite poetry.
But the wayfarer who threads their winding depths asks himself if, when the world was young, this was not the scene of the short loves of sad spirits of the hills and of gay spirits of the air; if the earth, in obedience to their varying moods, did not transform itself around them again and again, now forming shady marriage-beds […]

The village is described thus:

[…] there stands a small hotel not built by the spirits either of the mountains or of the air. The lower floor is nothing more than a rustic tavern, where, on Sundays, the wine is wont to ferment and overflow in song and rioting […] the all-pervading odour of pine-wood […] the creaking wooden stairs, the rooms above with their floors of deal […] a homely interior in which one is glad to feel oneself alive […]

The Cammino Fogazzaro Roi ends near Villa Fogazzaro Roi, where Fogazzaro’s daughter, Gina (the Marquess Giuseppe “Boso” Roi’s grandmother) stayed. In the novel the villa is called Villino dei Faggi. Nearby is the start of the Sentiero Fogazzariano, opened in the summer of 2005 by Tonezza del Cimone Town Council.

And so concludes our itinerary. We hope that this literary trail, and its connections with Antonio Fogazzaro‘s characters and the places he loved, will bring the area alive and give you insight a new perspective on the extraordinary scenery through which it passes.

Leaving behind the hamlet of Seghe, we find the little town of Velo d’Astico, renamed Villascura by Fogazzaro in his novel Daniele Cortis, and indicated as such on the signpost along the road. Following the directions we come to Villa Velo, a landmark in this area, and re-christened Villa Cortis in the novel Daniele Cortis, home of the main character and evocatively described in the following excerpt:

Sky and mountain, all was black, from the Passo Grande, which carries on its lowest ledge the Villa Cortis, with its woods and fields, away to Monte Barco, and to the high, narrow gully, whence issues the Rovese torrent. At the top of the steps, against the whitish background of the house, a lighted door shone in the darkness. […] on his right, rising above him, were the branches of the dense wood which grows over the mountain and valley, and which covers peaks and ridges, streams and pools , with the terrors of its black shadows. The wonderful fountain in the garden made its voice heard, though it was invisible in the night […]

Villa Velo, the magnificent historic residence of the Velo family, stands near the ancient castle of Velo and over the centuries it has been added to and altered. The oldest part is the huge three-floored main body that was built in the seventeenth century preserves elements of both Gothic and Renaissance styles. The section which links it to the beautifully crafted barchessa, or outhouses, was built by Girolamo di Velo in 1752 and displays interesting stuccoes and frescoes by G.B. Canal, a central staircase, and two serliana windows to the sides.
The chapel is finely decorated with sculptures from the school of Marinali. The villa is surrounded by a garden with a fountain and on the valley-facing side is a red marble column (brought back by Count Girolamo Egidio di Velo from the archaeological dig he conducted in the Baths of Caracalla in Rome), central to one of Elena’s most compelling scenes in the novel:

[…] a stream covered with water-lilies trickled, the grass grew thickly over the path, and overhead the branches of the acacias on either side mingled, and cast a golden green shadow. Thence she mounted to a quiet opening in the hills, and there, among the trees on a grassy plateau, stood a column of ancient marble, brought from the baths of Caracalla to this other solitude, and bearing on its base two clasped hands carved in relief, and the following words: 
                                        HYEME ET AESTATE ET PROPE ET PROCUL USQUE DUM VIVAM ET ULTRA

Following the signs, a few hundred metres further up, is La Montanina, “Leila’s villa” in the novel of the same name. Fogazzaro had it built in 1907, overseeing every detail of its design with the architect Mario Ceradini, and in keeping with the dictates of Liberty and Viennese Secessionist styles (steep-sloped roofs, trapezoidal pediments, and small-squared window panes). The writer watched over the building works as if it were his own child and christened the springs in the grounds Riderella and Modesta. The house was severely damaged by air raids in 1916 as the Austrian command was based there. It was then bought by Monseigneur Franceso Galloni and rebuilt and extended between 1927 and 1932 to become the centre for the Opera “Pro Oriente”, a charitable institution set up during the Fascist period. Earlier fragments of the older building include parts of a painting of the Magi, which are now mostly covered by an Annunciation, and a four-sided herm inscribed with the date 1907. The central salon has an enormous window overlooking the valley, framed by columns from Pompeii and two stately staircases. The nearby chapel is dedicated to Santa Maria dei Monti. Fogazzaro depicts the villa in this charming personification:

[…] it is so like one of those peasant women who come wearily down from the steeps of Priaforà, and pause to rest awhile upon the bundle of wood they have gathered in the forests. Or as one guest commented, ‘A big house with a family of children’.

Descending from Monte Berico towards the centre of the city, the Cammino Fogazzaro Roi leads us towards Piazza dei Signori, adorned with many splendid masterpieces including the iconic landmark, the Basilica Palladiana.

Around 1450, the city felt it necessary to build a new public palazzo with a large room to host assemblies of the Consiglio dei Cinquecento (the Council of the Five Hundred, the city’s governing body). Thirty years later a series of loggias were constructed around the building to provide additional space and shelter for the merchants who met in the main square. These were completed in 1494 to a design by Formenton, but approximately two years later the loggias on the west side collapsed, owing to inadequate foundations. In 1549, after lengthy consultations, Palladio‘s proposal was chosen and work began.

The Palladian loggias are a repetition of the same architectural element: the serliana window. A central arch is flanked by two rectangular openings framed by paired columns. Each bay appears to be the same size but they are in fact different; the architect cleverly adjusted the bay sizes to fit the existing structure, which was trapezoidal in shape, especially at the corners of the building, and the vertical lines of the columns continue upwards and through to the statues atop the upper balustrade.

In Piccolo mondo moderno (The Man of the World), Fogazzaro describes the loggias thus:

[…] he entered the deserted Piazza Maggiore opposite the spectral magnificence of the great, black loggias with their staring eyes, with which a glorious master of olden days has surrounded the decaying and blind creation of a still more ancient colleague […] 

Other details on the upper loggia evince Palladio’s ingenuity. The columns are not aligned with the windows in the great hall, allowing light to pour in. If you observe the outer wall of the older building on the upper floor, you will notice that it seems to lean inwards: this can be explained by studying the building techniques. As the wall goes up it has to support less weight and requires less building material. However, saving on material in this way can give the idea of instability; so Palladio designed his loggias to stand perpendicular to the piazza but not aligned with the internal walls.

Heading away from Piazza dei Signori, but before reaching corso Fogazzaro, a short detour from the Cammino Fogazzaro Roi, down corso Palladio, brings us to Piazza Matteotti. Here we can admire Palazzo Chiericati, a Palladian masterpiece and home of the Pinacoteca Civica (City Art Gallery) which received a precious bequest in 2009 from the Marquess Giuseppe Roi, Fogazzaro’s great-grandson.

It may not be the most beautiful sixteenth-century palazzo, but it is certainly one of Palladio’s most daring and superb creations. Begun in 1550, only the southern wing, from the basement to the roof, was initially completed. In a 1580 map of Vicenza, the Pianta Angelica, this portion of Palazzo Chiericati is shown hemmed in by the little houses huddled around it, although it had, by then, been made habitable with some opulently decorated rooms. Work resumed towards the end of the seventeenth century under the supervision of Borrella, who took a certain amount of licence, such as the addition of statues and vases, but was essentially faithful to Palladio’s original design. After standing in disuse for a century the city council bought the palazzo in 1839 from the aristocratic Chiericati family, intending to use it to house the civic art collections. It was renovated by the architects Berti and Miglioranza and opened as a museum in 1855. The museum collections are still undergoing radical refurbishment which is expected to conclude between the end of 2012 and early 2013.

The location was of crucial importance in Palladio’s design: the plot comprised both a clearing down towards the banks of the river Bacchiglione, and was a route into the noble part of the city with its corso and piazzas. This was Vicenza’s front door, where the city officially welcomed its illustrious visitors with pomp and circumstance and so the palazzo had a dual role to play: it would be a place for people to congregate and also act as the propylea, or monumental gateway, to Via Maggiore, known today as corso Palladio, the city’s decumanus. Dramatic chiaroscuro effect on the façade is created by flush and recessed walls and groups of half columns, bridging the transition from the shaded to the lighter areas, and preparing us for the rounded end arch which encloses the portico. The building plan is exquisitely simple, reminiscent of the villas where spaces flow seamlessly into one another with mathematical precision and perfect timing, and where the orchestrated play of solid and void on one façade is echoed in the one opposite. This gives rise to another distinctive feature of Palladian buildings: an imposing outer façade, indicating the family’s standing, and a more subdued and intimate inner façade, as in the villa, which is reserved for the family.

For a comprehensive description of the Palazzo’s interior and its collections please consult publications and catalogues by the Fondazione Roi, founded by Antonio Fogazzaro’s great-grandson to develop and promote museum culture.

A short distance from Palazzo Chiericati, the Porta dell’Armamentario gateway leads into the courtyard of the Palazzo del Territorio, now a picturesque garden replete with sculptures. Worthy of note is the Doric loggetta, the palazzo’s plain façade, which was rebuilt after air raid damage, and the façade of the Accademia Olimpica which adjoins the small apse of the stage of the Teatro Olimpico (Olympic Theatre).
The Odeo Olimpico, or music room, is the assembly room of the Accademia Olimpica, of which Antonio Fogazzaro was an eminent member and chairman. It was
built by Vincenzo Scamozzi and the frescoes are attributed to Franceso Maffei. The entrance to the theatre is Via the vestibule preceding the Odeo, known as the Antiodeo, and displayed on the walls are epigraphs commemorating some of the most prestigious members of the Academy, from Palladio to Trissino and Fogazzaro himself.
The Olympic Theatre, inspired by the ancient Roman theatres described in Vitruvius’ writings, was commissioned by the Academy in 1580 and Palladio began working on its design but died the same year; his son Silla continued his father’s work until Scamozzi took over in 1585.

Walking back up corso Palladio is the crossroads with Corso Fogazzaro, formerly known as contrà Carmini, and at number 111 can be seen the house where Fogazzaro was born.

The road leading up through Via San Bastian, where the Villa di S. Bastian, one of Fogazzaro’s residences, was destroyed by air raids in 1943, brings you to Viale D’Azeglio and then Viale X Giugno, where you can admire the Arcades of Monte Berico. Built in 1746 to a particularly simple design by Muttoni, the series of arches leading up to the Basilica della “Madonna da Monte” (The Sanctuary) display direct references the Rosary: 150 Hail Marys and the 15 Mysteries of the life of the Holy Virgin. Each chapel is dedicated to a Mystery in the life of the Virgin Mary, the apparition of the Blessed Virgin, and the Rosary and were decorated with frescoes between 1899 and 1900 by Bressanin and De Stafini. Drawing inspiration from Dotti’s example in Bologna, the arcades are noteworthy for their severity and simplicity of design lacking any noticeable Baroque influence.

In Piccolo mondo moderno (The Man of the World), the voice of the Sanctuary of Monte Berico announces its presence on the first night of the lunar eclipse:

[…] as the great, solemn voice of midnight sounded high up on the hill-side, where the Sanctuary showed white against the clear sky. The sudden tolling of the great bells did not startle her but penetrated deep into her heart […]