Just when you think you’ve been everywhere in Italy worth visiting, another walled city pops up.
We were driving to Chioggia when the road veered suddenly right. After gawking a bit, we realized that we were being taken around a walled city, rectangular in shape, on a road just outside the dried-up moat, now green with grass. We had to stop of course; it was lunch time.
We had a filling and inexpensive lunch just outside the walls—nothing to write home about. Then we went into Montagnana through a medieval gate.
There was a wonderful market square with a Gothic Cathedral (1431-1502) and a guard tower that had been made into a youth hostel. You could walk to the top and see the city from about 7 stories up. There was some medieval siege machinery lying about. In the market square sat a gelato joint that was rocking, even though the spring day wasn’t that hot.
Montagnana hosts a traditional “Palio” (horse-race and costumed procession) on the first Sunday in September, Palio 10 del Montagnanese.
Wandering Italy—sometimes just driving or walking around is the best way to find interesting stuff.
See a map and guide to the Veneto. It’s more than Venice you know.
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