Vicenza - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

Vicenza , a city in north-eastern Italy

Italy

Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...

, is the capital of the eponymous province

Province of Vicenza

The Province of Vicenza is a province in the Veneto region of northern Italy. Its capital city is Vicenza.The province has an area of 2,723 km², and a total population of 840,000 . There are 121 comuni in the province...

in the Veneto

Veneto

Veneto is one of the 20 regions of Italy. Its population is about 5 million, ranking 5th in Italy.Veneto had been for more than a millennium an independent state, the Republic of Venice, until it was eventually annexed by Italy in 1866 after brief Austrian and French rule...

region, at the northern base of the Monte Berico
Monte Berico
The Church of St. Mary of Mount Berico is a Roman Catholic and minor basilica in Vicenza, northern Italy. The church is a Marian shrine, and stands at the top of a hill which overlooks the city.-Origins:...

, straddling the Bacchiglione

Bacchiglione

The Bacchiglione is a river that flows through northern Italy. It rises in the Alps and empties into the Gulf of Venice, on the Adriatic Sea, near Chioggia...

. Vicenza is approximately 60 km west of Venice and 200 km east of Milan.

Vicenza is a thriving and cosmopolitan

Multiculturalism

Multiculturalism is the appreciation, acceptance or promotion of multiple cultures, applied to the demographic make-up of a specific place, usually at the organizational level, e.g...

city, with a rich history

History

History is the discovery, collection, organization, and presentation of information about past events. History can also mean the period of time after writing was invented. Scholars who write about history are called historians...

and culture

Culture

Culture is a term that has many different inter-related meanings. For example, in 1952, Alfred Kroeber and Clyde Kluckhohn compiled a list of 164 definitions of "culture" in Culture: A Critical Review of Concepts and Definitions...

, and many museum

Museum

A museum is an institution that cares for a collection of artifacts and other objects of scientific, artistic, cultural, or historical importance and makes them available for public viewing through exhibits that may be permanent or temporary. Most large museums are located in major cities...

s, art galleries

Art gallery

An art gallery or art museum is a building or space for the exhibition of art, usually visual art.Museums can be public or private, but what distinguishes a museum is the ownership of a collection...

, piazza

Piazza

A piazza is a city square in Italy, Malta, along the Dalmatian coast and in surrounding regions. The term is roughly equivalent to the Spanish plaza...

s, villa

Villa

A villa was originally an ancient Roman upper-class country house. Since its origins in the Roman villa, the idea and function of a villa have evolved considerably. After the fall of the Roman Republic, villas became small farming compounds, which were increasingly fortified in Late Antiquity,...

s, churches and elegant Renaissance

Renaissance

The Renaissance was a cultural movement that spanned roughly the 14th to the 17th century, beginning in Italy in the Late Middle Ages and later spreading to the rest of Europe. The term is also used more loosely to refer to the historical era, but since the changes of the Renaissance were not...

palazzi. With the Palladian Villas of the Veneto

Palladian Villas of the Veneto

The City of Vicenza and the Palladian Villas of the Veneto is a World Heritage Site protecting a cluster of works by the architect Andrea Palladio. UNESCO inscribed the site on the World Heritage List in 1994. At first the site was called "Vicenza, City of Palladio" and only buildings in the...

in the surrounding area, and his renowned Teatro Olimpico

Teatro Olimpico

The Teatro Olimpico is a theatre in Vicenza, northern Italy: constructed in 1580-1585, it is the oldest surviving enclosed theatre in the world. The theatre was the final design by the Italian Renaissance architect Andrea Palladio, Renaissance, and was not completed until after his death...

(Olympic Theatre), the "city of Palladio" has been enlisted as UNESCO

UNESCO

The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization is a specialized agency of the United Nations...

World Heritage Site

A UNESCO World Heritage Site is a place that is listed by the UNESCO as of special cultural or physical significance...

since 1994.

As of December 2008, Vicenza had an estimated population of c. 115,927, and a metropolitan area of 270 000. Vicenza is the third-largest Italian industrial centre as measured by the value of its exports, and is one of the country's wealthiest cities. Especially due to its textile and steel industries which employ tens of thousands and about one fifth of the country's gold

Gold

Gold is a chemical element with the symbol Au and an atomic number of 79. Gold is a dense, soft, shiny, malleable and ductile metal. Pure gold has a bright yellow color and luster traditionally considered attractive, which it maintains without oxidizing in air or water. Chemically, gold is a...

and jewelry industry is made in Vicenza, greatly contributing to the city's economy. Another important branch is the engineering

Engineering

Engineering is the discipline, art, skill and profession of acquiring and applying scientific, mathematical, economic, social, and practical knowledge, in order to design and build structures, machines, devices, systems, materials and processes that safely realize improvements to the lives of...

/computer components industry (Federico Faggin

Federico Faggin

Federico Faggin , who received in 2010 the National Medal of Technology and Innovation by Barack Obama, the highest honor bestowed by the United States government on scientists, engineers, and inventors, at the White House in Washington, is an Italian-born and naturalized U.S...

, the microprocessor

Microprocessor

A microprocessor incorporates the functions of a computer's central processing unit on a single integrated circuit, or at most a few integrated circuits. It is a multipurpose, programmable device that accepts digital data as input, processes it according to instructions stored in its memory, and...

's co-inventor was born in Vicenza).

Roman age

Vicentia was settled by the Italic Euganei

Euganei

The Euganei is a semi-mythical proto-Italic ethnic group that dwelt an area among Adriatic Sea and Rhaetian Alps...

tribe and then by the Paleo-Veneti

Adriatic Veneti

The Veneti were an ancient people who inhabited north-eastern Italy, in an area corresponding to the modern-day region of the Veneto....

tribe in the third and second centuries BC. The Romans

Ancient Rome

Ancient Rome was a thriving civilization that grew on the Italian Peninsula as early as the 8th century BC. Located along the Mediterranean Sea and centered on the city of Rome, it expanded to one of the largest empires in the ancient world....

allied themselves with the Paleo-Veneti in their fight against the Celtic tribes that populated north-western Italy. The Roman presence in the area grew exponentially over time and the Paleo-Veneti (whose culture mirrored Etruscan and Greek values more so than Celtic ones) were gradually assimilated. In 157 BC, the city was a de facto Roman centre and was given the name of Vicetia or Vincentia, meaning "victorious".

The population of Vicentia received Roman citizenship

Roman citizenship

Citizenship in ancient Rome was a privileged political and legal status afforded to certain free-born individuals with respect to laws, property, and governance....

in 49 BC. The city had some importance as a way-station on the important road from Mediolanum
Milan
Milan is the second-largest city in Italy and the capital city of the region of Lombardy and of the province of Milan. The city proper has a population of about 1.3 million, while its urban area, roughly coinciding with its administrative province and the bordering Province of Monza and Brianza ,...

(Milan) to Aquileia

Aquileia

Aquileia is an ancient Roman city in what is now Italy, at the head of the Adriatic at the edge of the lagoons, about 10 km from the sea, on the river Natiso , the course of which has changed somewhat since Roman times...

, near Tergeste (Trieste), but it was overshadowed by its neighbor Patavium (Padua

Padua

Padua is a city and comune in the Veneto, northern Italy. It is the capital of the province of Padua and the economic and communications hub of the area. Padua's population is 212,500 . The city is sometimes included, with Venice and Treviso, in the Padua-Treviso-Venice Metropolitan Area, having...

). Little survives of the Roman city, but three of the bridges across the Bacchiglione

Bacchiglione

The Bacchiglione is a river that flows through northern Italy. It rises in the Alps and empties into the Gulf of Venice, on the Adriatic Sea, near Chioggia...

and Retrone rivers are of Roman origin, and isolated arches of a Roman aqueduct

Aqueduct

An aqueduct is a water supply or navigable channel constructed to convey water. In modern engineering, the term is used for any system of pipes, ditches, canals, tunnels, and other structures used for this purpose....

exist outside the Porta Santa Croce.

During the decline of the Western Roman Empire

Western Roman Empire

The Western Roman Empire was the western half of the Roman Empire after its division by Diocletian in 285; the other half of the Roman Empire was the Eastern Roman Empire, commonly referred to today as the Byzantine Empire....

, Heruls, Vandals

Vandals

The Vandals were an East Germanic tribe that entered the late Roman Empire during the 5th century. The Vandals under king Genseric entered Africa in 429 and by 439 established a kingdom which included the Roman Africa province, besides the islands of Sicily, Corsica, Sardinia and the Balearics....

, Alaric

Alaric I

Alaric I was the King of the Visigoths from 395–410. Alaric is most famous for his sack of Rome in 410, which marked a decisive event in the decline of the Roman Empire....

and his Visigoths, as well as the Huns

Huns

The Huns were a group of nomadic people who, appearing from east of the Volga River, migrated into Europe c. AD 370 and established the vast Hunnic Empire there. Since de Guignes linked them with the Xiongnu, who had been northern neighbours of China 300 years prior to the emergence of the Huns,...

laid waste to the area, but the city recovered after the Ostrogoth

Ostrogoth

The Ostrogoths were a branch of the Goths , a Germanic tribe who developed a vast empire north of the Black Sea in the 3rd century AD and, in the late 5th century, under Theodoric the Great, established a Kingdom in Italy....

conquest in 489 AD, before passing to Byzantine rule soon after. It was also an important Lombard

Lombards

The Lombards , also referred to as Longobards, were a Germanic tribe of Scandinavian origin, who from 568 to 774 ruled a Kingdom in Italy...

city and then a Frankish

Frankish Empire

Francia or Frankia, later also called the Frankish Empire , Frankish Kingdom , Frankish Realm or occasionally Frankland, was the territory inhabited and ruled by the Franks from the 3rd to the 10th century...

centre. Numerous Benedictine

Benedictine

Benedictine refers to the spirituality and consecrated life in accordance with the Rule of St Benedict, written by Benedict of Nursia in the sixth century for the cenobitic communities he founded in central Italy. The most notable of these is Monte Cassino, the first monastery founded by Benedict...

monasteries were built in the Vicenza area, beginning in the sixth century.

Middle Ages

In 899, Vicenza was destroyed by Magyar raiders.

In 1001, Otto III handed over the government of the city to the bishop

Bishop

A bishop is an ordained or consecrated member of the Christian clergy who is generally entrusted with a position of authority and oversight. Within the Catholic Church, Eastern Orthodox, Oriental Orthodox Churches, in the Assyrian Church of the East, in the Independent Catholic Churches, and in the...

, and its communal organization had an opportunity to develop, separating soon from the episcopal authority. It took an active part in the League with Verona and, most of all, in the Lombard League

Lombard League

The Lombard League was an alliance formed around 1167, which at its apex included most of the cities of northern Italy , including, among others, Crema, Cremona, Mantua, Piacenza, Bergamo, Brescia, Milan, Genoa, Bologna, Padua, Modena, Reggio Emilia, Treviso, Venice, Vercelli, Vicenza, Verona,...

(1164–1167) against Emperor Frederick I Barbarossa compelling Padua and Treviso to join: its podestà

Podestà

Podestà is the name given to certain high officials in many Italian cities, since the later Middle Ages, mainly as Chief magistrate of a city state , but also as a local administrator, the representative of the Emperor.The term derives from the Latin word potestas, meaning power...

, Ezzelino II il Balbo

Ezzelino III da Romano

Ezzelino III da Romano was an Italian feudal lord in the March of Treviso who was a close ally of the emperor Frederick II and ruled Verona, Vicenza and Padua for almost two decades...

, was captain of the league. When peace was restored, however, the old rivalry with Padua, Bassano

Bassano del Grappa

Bassano del Grappa is a city and comune in the province of Vicenza, region Veneto, in northern Italy. It bounds the communes of Cassola, Marostica, Solagna, Pove del Grappa, Romano d'Ezzelino, Campolongo sul Brenta, Conco, Rosà, Cartigliano and Nove...

, and other cities was renewed, besides which there were the internal factions of the Vivaresi (Ghibellines) and the Maltraversi (Guelphs).

The tyrannical Ezzelino III from Bassano drove the Guelphs out of Vicenza, and caused his brother, Alberico

Alberico da Romano

Alberico da Romano , called Alberico II, was an Italian condottiero, troubadour, and an alternatingly Guelph and Ghibelline statesman. He was also a patron of Occitan literature.-Life and death:...

, to be elected podestà (1230). The independent commune

Medieval commune

Medieval communes in the European Middle Ages had sworn allegiances of mutual defense among the citizens of a town or city. They took many forms, and varied widely in organization and makeup. Communes are first recorded in the late 11th and early 12th centuries, thereafter becoming a widespread...

joined the Second Lombard League against Emperor Frederick II

Frederick II, Holy Roman Emperor

Frederick II , was one of the most powerful Holy Roman Emperors of the Middle Ages and head of the House of Hohenstaufen. His political and cultural ambitions, based in Sicily and stretching through Italy to Germany, and even to Jerusalem, were enormous...

, and was sacked by that monarch (1237), after which it was annexed to Ezzelino's dominions. On his death the old oligarchic republic

Republic

A republic is a form of government in which the people, or some significant portion of them, have supreme control over the government and where offices of state are elected or chosen by elected people. In modern times, a common simplified definition of a republic is a government where the head of...

political structure was restored -a consiglio maggiore ("grand council") of four hundred members and a consiglio minore ("small council") of forty members - and it formed a league with Padua, Treviso

Treviso

Treviso is a city and comune in Veneto, northern Italy. It is the capital of the province of Treviso and the municipality has 82,854 inhabitants : some 3,000 live within the Venetian walls or in the historical and monumental center, some 80,000 live in the urban center proper, while the city...

and Verona

Verona

Verona ; German Bern, Dietrichsbern or Welschbern) is a city in the Veneto, northern Italy, with approx. 265,000 inhabitants and one of the seven chef-lieus of the region. It is the second largest city municipality in the region and the third of North-Eastern Italy. The metropolitan area of Verona...

. Three years later the Vicentines entrusted the protection of the city to Padua

Padua

, so as to safeguard republican liberty; but this protectorate (custodia) quickly became dominion, and for that reason Vicenza in 1311 submitted to the Scaligeri lords of Verona

Verona

, who fortified it against the Visconti

House of Visconti

Visconti is the family name of two important Italian noble dynasties of the Middle Ages. There are two distinct Visconti families: The first one in the Republic of Pisa in the mid twelfth century who achieved prominence first in Pisa, then in Sardinia where they became rulers of Gallura...

of Milan

Milan

Milan is the second-largest city in Italy and the capital city of the region of Lombardy and of the province of Milan. The city proper has a population of about 1.3 million, while its urban area, roughly coinciding with its administrative province and the bordering Province of Monza and Brianza ,...

.

Vicenza came under rule of Venice

Venice

Venice is a city in northern Italy which is renowned for the beauty of its setting, its architecture and its artworks. It is the capital of the Veneto region...

in 1404, and its subsequent history is that of Venice

Republic of Venice

The Republic of Venice or Venetian Republic was a state originating from the city of Venice in Northeastern Italy. It existed for over a millennium, from the late 7th century until 1797. It was formally known as the Most Serene Republic of Venice and is often referred to as La Serenissima, in...

. It was besieged by the Emperor Sigismund, and Maximilian I

Maximilian I, Holy Roman Emperor

Maximilian I , the son of Frederick III, Holy Roman Emperor and Eleanor of Portugal, was King of the Romans from 1486 and Holy Roman Emperor from 1493 until his death, though he was never in fact crowned by the Pope, the journey to Rome always being too risky...

held possession of it in 1509 and 1516.

Modern age

Vicenza was a candidate to host the Council of Trent

Council of Trent

The Council of Trent was the 16th-century Ecumenical Council of the Roman Catholic Church. It is considered to be one of the Church's most important councils. It convened in Trent between December 13, 1545, and December 4, 1563 in twenty-five sessions for three periods...

.

The 16th century was the time of Andrea Palladio

Andrea Palladio

Andrea Palladio was an architect active in the Republic of Venice. Palladio, influenced by Roman and Greek architecture, primarily by Vitruvius, is widely considered the most influential individual in the history of Western architecture...

, who left many outstanding examples of his art with palaces and villas in the city's territory, which before Palladio's passage, was arguably the most downtrodden and esthetically lacking city of the Veneto.

After 1797, under Napoleonic

Napoleonic Wars

The Napoleonic Wars were a series of wars declared against Napoleon's French Empire by opposing coalitions that ran from 1803 to 1815. As a continuation of the wars sparked by the French Revolution of 1789, they revolutionised European armies and played out on an unprecedented scale, mainly due to...

rule, it was made a duché grand-fief (not a grand duchy, but a hereditary (extinguished in 1896), nominal duchy, a rare honor reserved for French officials) within Bonaparte's personal Kingdom of Italy

Kingdom of Italy (Napoleonic)

The Kingdom of Italy was a state founded in Northern Italy by Napoleon, fully influenced by revolutionary France, that ended with his defeat and fall.-Constitutional statutes:...

for general Caulaincourt

Armand Augustin Louis de Caulaincourt

Armand-Augustin-Louis, marquis de Caulaincourt, 1st Duc de Vicence was a French general and diplomat.-Biography:...

, also imperial Grand-Écuyer.

After 1814, Vicenza passed to the Austrian Empire

Austrian Empire

The Austrian Empire was a modern era successor empire, which was centered on what is today's Austria and which officially lasted from 1804 to 1867. It was followed by the Empire of Austria-Hungary, whose proclamation was a diplomatic move that elevated Hungary's status within the Austrian Empire...

. In 1848, however, the populace rose against Austria, more violently then in any other Italian centre apart from Milan and Brescia (the city would receive the highest award for military valour for the courage displayed by revolutionaries in this period). As a part of the Kingdom of Lombardy-Venetia, it was annexed to Italy after the 3rd war of Italian independence

Austro-Prussian War

The Austro-Prussian War was a war fought in 1866 between the German Confederation under the leadership of the Austrian Empire and its German allies on one side and the Kingdom of Prussia with its German allies and Italy on the...

.

Vicenza's area was a location of major combat in both World War I

World War I

World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...

(on the Asiago plateau) and World War II

World War II

World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...

(a focal centre of the Italian resistance), and it was the most damaged city in Veneto by Allied bombings, including many of its monuments; the civil victims were over 2,000. After the end of the latter, what followed was a period of depression following the devasatation caused by two world conflicts. In the 1960s the whole central part of Veneto, witnessed a strong economic development caused by the emergence of small and medium family businessess, ranging in a vast array of products (that often emerged illegally) that paved the way for what would be known as the "miracolo del Nordest".
In the following years, the economic development grew vertiginously. Huge industrial areas sprouted around the city, massive and disorganised urbanisation and employment of foreign immigrants increased.

Vicenza is home to the United States Army

United States Army

The United States Army is the main branch of the United States Armed Forces responsible for land-based military operations. It is the largest and oldest established branch of the U.S. military, and is one of seven U.S. uniformed services...

post

Military base

A military base is a facility directly owned and operated by or for the military or one of its branches that shelters military equipment and personnel, and facilitates training and operations. In general, a military base provides accommodations for one or more units, but it may also be used as a...

Caserma Ederle

Caserma Ederle is an Italian post where the U.S. Army has troops stationed located in Vicenza, Italy. A small number of members of other U.S. services are also stationed there. The post serves as the headquarters of United States Army Africa and the 173d Airborne Brigade. Caserma Ederle serves as...

(Camp Ederle), also known as the U.S. Army Garrison Vicenza. In 1965, Caserma Ederle

Caserma Ederle

became the headquarters

Headquarters

Headquarters denotes the location where most, if not all, of the important functions of an organization are coordinated. In the United States, the corporate headquarters represents the entity at the center or the top of a corporation taking full responsibility managing all business activities...

for the Southern European Task Force, which includes the 173d Airborne Brigade. In January 2006, the European Gendarmerie Force

European Gendarmerie Force

The European Gendarmerie Force was launched by an agreement in 2006 between five members of the European Union : France, Italy, the Netherlands, Portugal, and Spain. Romania subsequently joined in 2009...

was inaugurated in Vicenza.

Economy

The surrounding country is predominantly agricultural. Major products are wine, wheat, mais, olive oil ( in the Barbarano area ) and cherries and asparagus are a particularity of Bassano. There are also quarries of marble, sulphur, copper, and silver mines, and beds of lignite and kaolin; mineral springs also abound, the most famous being those of Recoaro.
Massive industrial areas surround the city and extend extensively in the western and eastern hinterland, with numerous steel and tectile factories located in the Montecchio Maggiore

Montecchio Maggiore

Montecchio Maggiore is a town and comune in the province of Vicenza, Veneto, Italy. It is situated approximately 12 km west of Vicenza and 43 km east of Verona, SP 246 passes through it....

, Chiampo

Chiampo

Chiampo is a town and comune in the province of Vicenza, Veneto, Italy. It is on SP43.-Sources:*...

and Sovizzo

Sovizzo

Sovizzo is a town in the province of Vicenza, Veneto, Italy. It is north of SR11.-Sources:*...

area in the west and Camisano Vicentino

Camisano Vicentino

Camisano Vicentino is a town in the province of Vicenza, Veneto, Italy. It is north of SP24, and about 5 miles away from Autostrada A4.It has a famous Sunday market.-Twin towns — Sister cities:Taipei is twinned with: Fuerte Olimpo, Paraguay...

and Torri di Quartesolo

Torri di Quartesolo

Torri di Quartesolo is a town and comune in the province of Vicenza, Veneto, Italy.-Geography:It is north of E70 and west of A31, and has its own highway junction called "Vicenza Est", off the Autostrada A4.-Notable residents:...

in the east, areas characterised by a disorganised and extensive cementifaction.
Elitè sectors are the jewelry and clothing

Clothing

Clothing refers to any covering for the human body that is worn. The wearing of clothing is exclusively a human characteristic and is a feature of nearly all human societies...

factories. Important vicentino clothing firms include: Diesel, Pal Zileri

Pal Zileri

Pal Zileri is a fashion house based in Vicenza, Italy specialising in clothing for men.Pal Zileri clothing can be bought in many clothing stores around the world. Their clothing lines include Pal Zileri Lab and Pal Zileri Sport....

, Marzotto

Marzotto

The Marzotto Group is an Italian textile manufacturer, based in Valdagno.Created in 1836 as the Lanificio Luigi Marzotto & Figli. In 2005 Marzotto Group's textile business separated from Valentino Fashion Group....

, Bottega Veneta

Bottega Veneta

Bottega Veneta is an Italian luxury goods house best known for its leather goods. Founded in 1966, it was purchased in 2001 by Gucci Group, now a part of the French multinational group PPR. Bottega Veneta is headquartered in Vicenza, in the Veneto region of northeastern Italy.- History :Bottega...

, Marlboro Classics

Marlboro Classics

Marlboro Classics is an Italian fashion and lifestyle house. The Brand was established in the mid 1980s. It is produced and distributed by Valentino Fashion Group.-Today:Nowadays they have 2400 points of sales in 42 countries...

etc.. The Gold Exposition is world-famous and it takes place in Vicenza three times per year (January, May, September).
Other industries worthy of mention are the woollen and silk, pottery, and musical instruments. The headquarters of the bicycle component manufacturer Campagnolo

Campagnolo

Campagnolo is an Italian manufacturer of high-end bicycle components with headquarters in Vicenza, Italy. The components are organised as groupsets and are a near-complete collection of a bicycle's mechanical parts. Campagnolo's flagship components are the Super Record, Record, and Chorus...

and the protective wear for sports manufacturer Dainese

Dainese

Dainese is an Italian company founded in 1972 by its current President Lino Dainese. It specializes in protective wear for sports such as motorcycling, mountain biking and downhill skiing....

are located here.

Demographics

In 2007, there were 114,268 people residing in Vicenza, located in the province of Vicenza, Veneto

Veneto

, of whom 47.6% were male and 52.4% were female. Minors (children ages 18 and younger) totalled 17.17 percent of the population compared to pensioners who number 21.60 percent. This compares with the Italian average of 18.06 percent (minors) and 19.94 percent (pensioners). The average age of Vicenza residents is 43 compared to the Italian average of 42. In the five years between 2002 and 2007, the population of Vicenza grew by 3.72 percent, while Italy as a whole grew by 3.85 percent. The current birth rate of Vicenza is 9.16 births per 1,000 inhabitants compared to the Italian average of 9.45 births.

As of 2006, 87.53% of the population was Italian

Italian people

The Italian people are an ethnic group that share a common Italian culture, ancestry and speak the Italian language as a mother tongue. Within Italy, Italians are defined by citizenship, regardless of ancestry or country of residence , and are distinguished from people...

. From 1876 to 1976 it has been calculated that over a million people from the province of Vicenza have emigrated, with more than 3 million people of vicentino descent living around the world ( most common migrational currents included Brasil, America, Canada, Australia Germany, France, Belgium and Switzerland ) escaping the devastation left by poverty, war and sickness. Today nearly 100 000 Vicenza citizens live and work abroad. Today the city has morphed from land of emigration to immigration. The largest immigrant group comes from other Europe

Europe

Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...

an nations (the largest being Serbia

Serbia

Serbia , officially the Republic of Serbia , is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central and Southeast Europe, covering the southern part of the Carpathian basin and the central part of the Balkans...

, Albania

Albania

Albania , officially known as the Republic of Albania , is a country in Southeastern Europe, in the Balkans region. It is bordered by Montenegro to the northwest, Kosovo to the northeast, the Republic of Macedonia to the east and Greece to the south and southeast. It has a coast on the Adriatic Sea...

, and Bosnia

Bosnia and Herzegovina

Bosnia and Herzegovina , sometimes called Bosnia-Herzegovina or simply Bosnia, is a country in Southern Europe, on the Balkan Peninsula. Bordered by Croatia to the north, west and south, Serbia to the east, and Montenegro to the southeast, Bosnia and Herzegovina is almost landlocked, except for the...

): 6.28%, South Asian 1.85%, sub-saharan Africa

Sub-Saharan Africa

Sub-Saharan Africa as a geographical term refers to the area of the African continent which lies south of the Sahara. A political definition of Sub-Saharan Africa, instead, covers all African countries which are fully or partially located south of the Sahara...

: 1.44%, and North Africa

North Africa

North Africa or Northern Africa is the northernmost region of the African continent, linked by the Sahara to Sub-Saharan Africa. Geopolitically, the United Nations definition of Northern Africa includes eight countries or territories; Algeria, Egypt, Libya, Morocco, South Sudan, Sudan, Tunisia, and...

: 1.36%. The city is predominantly Roman Catholic, but due to immigration now has some Orthodox Christian, Muslim

Muslim

A Muslim, also spelled Moslem, is an adherent of Islam, a monotheistic, Abrahamic religion based on the Quran, which Muslims consider the verbatim word of God as revealed to prophet Muhammad. "Muslim" is the Arabic term for "submitter" .Muslims believe that God is one and incomparable...

and Sikh

Sikh

A Sikh is a follower of Sikhism. It primarily originated in the 15th century in the Punjab region of South Asia. The term "Sikh" has its origin in Sanskrit term शिष्य , meaning "disciple, student" or शिक्ष , meaning "instruction"...

followers.

Main sights

In 1994 UNESCO

UNESCO

The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization is a specialized agency of the United Nations...

inscribed "Vicenza, City of Palladio" on its list of World Heritage Site

World Heritage Site

A UNESCO World Heritage Site is a place that is listed by the UNESCO as of special cultural or physical significance...

s. In 1996 the site was expanded to include the Palladian villas outside the core area, and accordingly renamed "City of Palladio and the Palladian Villas of the Veneto".

Palladio's works

Vicenza is home to twenty-three buildings designed by Palladio. The famous ones include:

Villa Almerico Capra (also known as "La Rotonda"), located just outside the downtown area;
Basilica Palladiana
Basilica Palladiana
The Basilica Palladiana is a Renaissance building in the central Piazza dei Signori in Vicenza, north-eastern Italy. The most notable feature of the edifice is the loggia, which shows one of the first examples of the what came to be known as the Palladian window, designed by a young Andrea...

, centrally located in Vicenza's Piazza dei Signori, of which Palladio himself said that it might stand comparison with any similar work of antiquity;
Teatro Olimpico
Teatro Olimpico
The Teatro Olimpico is a theatre in Vicenza, northern Italy: constructed in 1580-1585, it is the oldest surviving enclosed theatre in the world. The theatre was the final design by the Italian Renaissance architect Andrea Palladio, Renaissance, and was not completed until after his death...

, designed for the Accademia Olimpica and begun to be built in 1580, when Palladio died. The wooden scenes are by Vincenzo Scamozzi
Vincenzo Scamozzi
thumb|250px|Portrait of Vincenzo Scamozzi by [[Paolo Veronese]]Vincenzo Scamozzi was a Venetian architect and a writer on architecture, active mainly in Vicenza and Republic of Venice area in the second half of the 16th century...

;
Palazzo Chiericati
Palazzo Chiericati
Palazzo Chiericati is a Renaissance palace in Vicenza , designed by Andrea Palladio.- History :The Palazzo was commissioned to Palladio by Count Girolamo Chiericati. The architect started building the architecture in 1550, some further work was completed under the patronage of Chiericati's son and...

, home of the Town pinacotheca;
Palazzo Barbaran da Porto
Palazzo Barbaran da Porto
Palazzo Barbaran Da Porto is a palazzo in Vicenza, Italy designed in 1569 and built between 1570 and 1575 by Andrea Palladio.Since 1994 the palace is part of the "City of Vicenza and the Palladian Villas of the Veneto" World Heritage Site by UNESCO....

, home of the Museo Palladio;
Palazzo del Capitaniato
Palazzo del Capitaniato
The palazzo del Capitaniato, also known as loggia del Capitanio or loggia Bernarda, is a palace in Vicenza, northern Italy, designed by Andrea Palladio in 1565 and built between 1571 and 1572. It is located on the central Piazza dei Signori, facing the Basilica Palladiana.The palace is actually...

, home of the Town council;
Palazzo Porto
Palazzo Porto
Palazzo Porto is a palazzo built by Andrea Palladio in Contrà Porti, Vicenza, Italy. It is one of two palaces in the city designed by Palladio for members of the Porto family...

;
Palazzo Porto in Piazza Castello (unfinished);
Palazzo Thiene Bonin Longare
Palazzo Thiene Bonin Longare
Palazzo Thiene Bonin Longare is a patrician palace in Vicenza, northern Italy, designed by Andrea Palladio probably in 1572 and built after Palladio's death by Vincenzo Scamozzi...

(built by Vincenzo Scamozzi);
Palazzo Thiene
Palazzo Thiene
Palazzo Thiene is a 15th-16th century palace in Vicenza, northern Italy, designed for Marcantonio and Adriano Thiene, probably by Giulio Romano, in 1542, and revised during construction from 1544 by Andrea Palladio....

;
Villa Gazzotti Grimani
Villa Gazzotti Grimani
The Villa Gazzotti Grimani is a Renaissance villa, an early work of architect Andrea Palladio, located in the village of Bertesina, near Vicenza in the Veneto region of northern Italy. In 1994 UNESCO designated Villa Gazzotti Grimani as part of the "Vicenza, City of Palladio" World Heritage Site...

, in the frazione
Frazione
A frazione , in Italy, is the name given in administrative law to a type of territorial subdivision of a comune; for other administrative divisions, see municipio, circoscrizione, quartiere...

Bertesina.

Churches

Some of the main historical churches:

The Cathedral of Vicenza (church of Santa Maria Annunciata), dating from early in the 11th century, and restored in the 13th, 16th, 19th and after the ruinous destruction of World War II, possesses numerous pictures and sculptures, nearly all of them by Vicentine artists (Cittadello, Celestia, Liberi
Liberi
Liberi is a comune in the Province of Caserta in the Italian region Campania, located about 45 km north of Naples and about 15 km north of Caserta. As of 31 December 2004, it had a population of 1,198 and an area of 17.4 km²....

, Ruschi);
The Church of Araceli (1244), by Guarino Guarini, formerly belonged to the Clarisses, contains statues by Orazio Marinali
Orazio Marinali
Orazio Marinali was an Italian late-baroque sculptor, active mainly in the Veneto or Venetian mainland.He trained with Josse de Corte. He is best known for over 150 statues produced by him and his studio for the estate and gardens of a single villa in Vicenza, the Villa Lampertico...

and Cassetti, and paintings by Tiepolo
Giovanni Battista Tiepolo
Giovanni Battista Tiepolo , also known as Gianbattista or Giambattista Tiepolo, was an Italian painter and printmaker from the Republic of Venice...

;
The Churches of the Carmini (1372) and St. Catherine (1292), formerly belonging to the Humiliati, possess notable pictures;
Santa Corona (1260) was built by the Dominicans after the death of Ezzelino
Ezzelino III da Romano
Ezzelino III da Romano was an Italian feudal lord in the March of Treviso who was a close ally of the emperor Frederick II and ruled Verona, Vicenza and Padua for almost two decades...

, and is pictured by Montagna
Bartolomeo Montagna
Bartolomeo Montagna was an Italian painter and architect who worked in Vicenza and Venice. He putatively was born near Brescia . His initial training was presumably under Domenico Morone in Verona, where he seems to have acquired a late Quattrocento refinement, similar to that of Carpaccio and...

(The Magdelene) and Bellini
Giovanni Bellini
Giovanni Bellini was an Italian Renaissance painter, probably the best known of the Bellini family of Venetian painters. His father was Jacopo Bellini, his brother was Gentile Bellini, and his brother-in-law was Andrea Mantegna. He is considered to have revolutionized Venetian painting, moving it...

(Baptism of Christ); it also hosts the Valmarana chapel by Palladio;
Santa Croce (1179);
Santi Felice and Fortunato (8th century);
Santi Filippo and Giacomo (12th century);
San Lorenzo of the Friars Minor (1280), in the Gothic style, contains the tombs of many illustrious Vicentines
San Marco in San Girolamo
San Marco in San Girolamo
The Church of San Marco in San Girolamo is a baroque parish church in Vicenza, northern Italy, built in the 18th century by the Discalced Carmelites. It houses various artworks by artists of the early 18th century from Veneto...

(18th century), baroque church built by the Discalced Carmelites
Discalced Carmelites
The Discalced Carmelites, or Barefoot Carmelites, is a Catholic mendicant order with roots in the eremitic tradition of the Desert Fathers and Mothers...

;
In the cloister of S. Maria of the Servites (1319) took place the miracles of St. Philip Benizi de Damiani
Philip Benizi de Damiani
Saint Philip Benizi de Damiani was a General Superior of the Order of the Servites.-Biography:...

.

Secular buildings

The Torre Bissara (clock tower) (1224–1446), 82mt, is one of the tallest buildings;
The Biblioteca Civica Bertoliana, public library founded by Count Giovanni M. Bertolo, opened 1708;
Casa Pigafetta (1440), house of Antonio Pigafetta
Antonio Pigafetta
Antonio Pigafetta was an Italian scholar and explorer from the Republic of Venice. He travelled with the Portuguese explorer Ferdinand Magellan and his crew on their voyage to the Indies. During the expedition, he served as Magellan's assistant and kept an accurate journal which later assisted him...

;
The Pinacotheca Civica houses mainly Vicentine paintings in the Palladian Palazzo Chiericati
Palazzo Chiericati
Palazzo Chiericati is a Renaissance palace in Vicenza , designed by Andrea Palladio.- History :The Palazzo was commissioned to Palladio by Count Girolamo Chiericati. The architect started building the architecture in 1550, some further work was completed under the patronage of Chiericati's son and...

.

Transport

Vicenza railway station

Vicenza railway station serves the town and comune of Vicenza, in the Veneto region, northeastern Italy. Opened in 1846, it forms part of the Milan–Venice railway, and is also a junction of two branch lines, to Schio and Treviso, respectively....

, opened in 1846, forms part of the Milan–Venice railway, and is also a junction

Junction (rail)

A junction, in the context of rail transport, is a place at which two or more rail routes converge or diverge.This implies a physical connection between the tracks of the two routes , 'points' and signalling.one or two tracks each meet at a junction, a fairly simple layout of tracks suffices to...

of two branch lines, to Schio and Treviso, respectively.

Artists

Vicenza is the home of Rosalba Pedrina

Rosalba Pedrina

-Bio:Rosalba Pedrina was born in Clusone, Italy on August 14, 1944, during the Second World War. She was raised in Povolaro, a small town outside Vicenza in the northeast of Italy, not far from Venice...

, a painter, sculptor and art teacher. Her studio and art school are located in the Palazzo da Schio on Corso Palladio.

Sport

Vicenza is home to Vicenza Calcio

Vicenza Calcio

Vicenza Calcio is an Italian football club based in Vicenza, Veneto. The club was formed in 1902 and currently plays in Italy's Serie B, having spent the entire 1960s and a large part of the 1990s in Serie A...

who currently plays in Serie B

Serie B

Serie B, currently named Serie bwin due to sponsorship reasons, is the second-highest division in the Italian football league system after the Serie A. It is contested by 22 teams and organized by the Lega Serie B since July 2010, after the split of Lega Calcio that previously took care of both the...

. Their home is the Stadio Romeo Menti

Stadio Romeo Menti

Stadio Romeo Menti is the name of three stadiums in Italy:* Stadio Romeo Menti * Stadio Romeo Menti * Stadio Romeo Menti...

Cuisine and popular dishes

Vicenza's cuisine, despite being Venetian in essence, is slightly different. Vicenza is known for its simple dishes, and often famous cheeses, fruits, ingredients and wines, such as Asiago cheese

Asiago cheese

Asiago is an Italian cow's milk cheese that can assume different textures, according to its aging, from smooth for the fresh Asiago to a crumbly texture for the aged cheese of which the flavor is reminiscent of Parmesan...

, Marostica

Marostica

Marostica , is a town and comune in the province of Vicenza, Veneto, northern Italy. It is mostly famous for its living chess event and for the local cherry variety.-History:...

cherries, Nanto truffles and Breganze Cabernet wine.

Baccalà alla Vicentina
Baccalà alla vicentina
Baccalà alla vicentina is an Italian dish native to Vicenza made from baccalà, dried unsalted cod, served on or with white, soft polenta.-External links:**...
Risi e Bisi
Polenta e Osei

The inhabitants of Vicenza are jokingly known to other Italians as mangiagatti, 'cat eaters'. Purportedly, Vicentinos turned to cats for sustenance during times of famine, such as World War II.

Famous people from Vicenza

The Bloody Beetroots - Death Crew 77, band
Amy Adams
Amy Adams
Amy Lou Adams is an American actress and singer. Adams began her performing career on stage in dinner theaters before making her screen debut in the 1999 black comedy film Drop Dead Gorgeous...

, actress
Sebastiano Carlise, singer, writer
Giuseppina M. Bakhita, saint
Flavio Albanese, architect
Roberto Baggio
Roberto Baggio
Roberto Baggio is a retired Italian footballer. Widely regarded as one of the finest footballers of his generation, Baggio won both the Ballon d'Or and the FIFA World Player of the Year in 1993. He is the only Italian player ever to score in three World Cups. He is also one of the top 5 all-time...

, football player
Fernando Bandini, writer
Valerio Belli
Valerio Belli
thumb|150px|right|A large bronze [[Casting |cast]] [[Medal|medallion]] created by Belli in the early sixteenth century.Valerio Belli , also known as Valerio Vicentino, was a celebrated medallist and engraver of gems noted by the art historian Giorgio Vasari...

, sculptor and engraver
Maria Bertilla Boscardin
Maria Bertilla Boscardin
Maria Bertilla Boscardin was an Italian nun and nurse who displayed a pronounced devotion to duty in working with sick children and victims of the air raids of World War I. She was later canonized a saint by the Roman Catholic Church.-Early life:...

, saint
Ottavio Bertotti Scamozzi, architect
Miki Biasion, rally driver
Gelindo Bordin
Gelindo Bordin
Gelindo Bordin is an Italian former athlete, winner of the marathon race at the 1988 Summer Olympics. Born at Vicenza, Bordin made his first breakthrough at the 1986 European Championships, where he won a gold medal....

, athlete
Roberto Busa
Roberto Busa
Roberto Busa was an Italian Jesuit priest and one of the pioneers in the usage of computers for linguistic and literary analysis...

, religious and informatic engineer
Aulus Caecina Alienus
Aulus Caecina Alienus
Aulus Caecina Alienus, Roman general, was born in Vicetia .He was quaestor of Hispania Baetica in AD 68. On the death of Nero, he attached himself to Galba, who appointed him to the command of Legio IV Macedonica at Mogontiacum in Germania Superior...

, Roman general
Tullio Campagnolo
Tullio Campagnolo
Gentullio Campagnolo was an Italian racing cyclist and inventor. He patented the quick release skewer and founded the Campagnolo bicycle component company....

, bicycle component maker and inventor
Domenico Cerato, priest and architect
Francesco Chieregati
Francesco Chieregati
Francesco Chieregati was a papal nuncio and bishop.-Life and career:Sent by Pope Leo X as papal nuncio to England , he also filled a similar office in Portugal and in Spain , becoming acquainted with Cardinal Adrian Florent, Bishop of Tortosa, the Dutch preceptor of Charles V, and later Pope...

, papal nuncio, bishop
Luigi Da Porto
Luigi Da Porto
Luigi Da Porto was an Italian writer and storiographer, better known as the author of the novel with the story of Romeo and Juliet, later reprised by William Shakespeare for his famous drama....

, writer
Almerico da Schio, astronomer and inventor
Otello De Maria, painter
Ilvo Diamanti
Ilvo Diamanti
Diamanti Ilvo is an Italian political scientist.-Biography:Ilvo Diamanti graduated from the University of Padua with a degree in Political Science, and completed his Doctorate in Sociology and Social Research at the University of Trento...

, political scientist
Federico Faggin
Federico Faggin
Federico Faggin , who received in 2010 the National Medal of Technology and Innovation by Barack Obama, the highest honor bestowed by the United States government on scientists, engineers, and inventors, at the White House in Washington, is an Italian-born and naturalized U.S...

, inventor
Adolfo Farsari
Adolfo Farsari
Adolfo Farsari was an Italian photographer based in Yokohama, Japan. Following a brief military career, including service in the American Civil War, he became a successful entrepreneur and commercial photographer...

, photographer
Ferreto dei Ferreti, historian (fourteenth century)
Antonio Fogazzaro
Antonio Fogazzaro
Antonio Fogazzaro was an Italian novelist.-Biography:Fogazzaro was born in Vicenza to a rich family.In 1864 he got a law degree in Turin...

, writer
Antonio Giuriolo, partisan
Jessie James, singer
Fedele Lampertico, economist, writer and politician
Niccolò Leoniceno
Niccolò Leoniceno
Niccolò Leoniceno , also known as Nicolo Leoniceno, Nicolaus Leoninus, Nicolaus Leonicenus of Vicenza, Nicolaus Leonicenus Vicentinus, Nicolo Lonigo, Nicolò da Lonigo da Vincenza, was an Italian physician and humanist....

, medic
Paolo Lioy, naturalist
Luigi Meneghello
Luigi Meneghello
Luigi Meneghello was an Italian contemporary writer and scholar.-Biography:Luigi Meneghello was born in Malo, a small town in the countryside near Vicenza, on February 16, 1922. His father was a craftsman and his mother was a teacher. Meneghello entered in 1939 the University of Padua to study...

, writer (professor at Reading University)
Francesco Muttoni, architect
Andrea Palladio
Andrea Palladio
Andrea Palladio was an architect active in the Republic of Venice. Palladio, influenced by Roman and Greek architecture, primarily by Vitruvius, is widely considered the most influential individual in the history of Western architecture...

, architect
Goffredo Parise
Goffredo Parise
Goffredo Parise was an Italian writer and journalist. He won the Viareggio Prize in 1965 and the Strega Prize in 1982. He was an atheist.-References:...

, writer
Rosalba Pedrina
Rosalba Pedrina
-Bio:Rosalba Pedrina was born in Clusone, Italy on August 14, 1944, during the Second World War. She was raised in Povolaro, a small town outside Vicenza in the northeast of Italy, not far from Venice...

, artist and teacher
Antonio Pigafetta
Antonio Pigafetta
Antonio Pigafetta was an Italian scholar and explorer from the Republic of Venice. He travelled with the Portuguese explorer Ferdinand Magellan and his crew on their voyage to the Indies. During the expedition, he served as Magellan's assistant and kept an accurate journal which later assisted him...

, explorer, companion of Ferdinand Magellan
Ferdinand Magellan
Ferdinand Magellan was a Portuguese explorer. He was born in Sabrosa, in northern Portugal, and served King Charles I of Spain in search of a westward route to the "Spice Islands" ....
Guido Piovene, journalist and writer
Orlando Pizzolato
Orlando Pizzolato
Orlando Pizzolato is a retired long-distance runner from Italy, who represented his native country in the men's marathon at the 1988 Summer Olympics, finishing in 16th place...

, athlete
Sergio Romano, diplomatic and historian
Paolo Rossi
Paolo Rossi
Paolo Rossi is an Italian former football striker. In 1982, he led Italy to the 1982 FIFA World Cup title, scoring six goals to win the Golden Boot/top scorer honors, and the Golden Ball. After his performance at the 1982 FIFA World Cup he became a hero in the hearts of all Italians...

, football player
Mariano Rumor
Mariano Rumor
Mariano Rumor was an Italian politician, a member of the Democrazia Cristiana and the 40th Prime Minister of Italy.He was born in Vicenza, Veneto...

, politician
Flo Sandon's
Flo Sandon's
Mammola Sandon, known by the stage name of Flo Sandon's , was an Italian singer who was popular in the post-WWII years. She won the Sanremo Music Festival in 1953 with the song "Viale d'autunno".-Career:...

, singer
Vincenzo Scamozzi
Vincenzo Scamozzi
thumb|250px|Portrait of Vincenzo Scamozzi by [[Paolo Veronese]]Vincenzo Scamozzi was a Venetian architect and a writer on architecture, active mainly in Vicenza and Republic of Venice area in the second half of the 16th century...

, architect
Gian Antonio Stella, journalist and writer
Tiziano Treu, politician
Vitaliano Trevisan, writer and actor

Gian Giorgio Trissino
Gian Giorgio Trissino
Gian Giorgio Trissino was an Italian Renaissance humanist, poet, dramatist, diplomat, and grammarian.-Biography:...

, humanist and poet (1478–1553)
Nicola Vicentino
Nicola Vicentino
Nicola Vicentino was an Italian music theorist and composer of the Renaissance. He was one of the most visionary musicians of the age, inventing, among other things, a microtonal keyboard, and devising a practical system of chromatic writing two hundred years before the rise of equal...

, theorist and composer
Giacomo Zanella
Giacomo Zanella
-Biography:He was born at Chiampo, near Vicenza, and was educated for the priesthood. After his ordination he became professor at the lyceum of his native place, but his patriotic sympathies excited the jealousy of the Austrian authorities, and although protected by his diocesan, he was compelled...

, writer and priest

Twin towns - Sister cities

Vicenza is twinned with: Annecy

Annecy

Annecy is a commune in the Haute-Savoie department in the Rhône-Alpes region in south-eastern France.It lies on the northern tip of Lake Annecy , 35 kilometres south of Geneva.-Administration:...

, France

France

The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...

, from 1995 Pforzheim

Pforzheim

Pforzheim is a town of nearly 119,000 inhabitants in the state of Baden-Württemberg, southwest Germany at the gate to the Black Forest. It is world-famous for its jewelry and watch-making industry. Until 1565 it was the home to the Margraves of Baden. Because of that it gained the nickname...

, Germany

Germany

Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...

, from 1991

External links

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