Northern Italy's Top Ten Secret Sights
10 Best Places North of the Po River that Tourists Rarely See
Apr 30, 2009
From Venice's outer islands and a stash of Roman ruins, to Piedmont delicacies and soaring Dolomite vistas, there is more to Northern Italy than most travelers realize.
After seeing Rialto Bridge, the Grand Canal, Da Vinci’s Last Supper and Juliet’s Balcony most travelers are ready for some uncrowded places without so many tourists.
In and Around Venice
- Venice’s Island of Burano – Crayola-colored houses crowd along the canals, and the church towers leans at a more alarming angle than Pisa’s. Don’t confuse this lace-making island with its overcrowded glass-blowing neighbor Murano, although the same Vaporetto goes there.
- Teatro Olimpico – Vicenza, between Venice and Verona, is know for the villas created by Palladio, but less known is his last work, a theater with a stage-set so realistic it appears to be an entire Roman city.
- Brenta Canal – Go by boat or bus from Venice or drive alongside the canal to visit the palatial villas where patrician Venice escaped in the summer. Get lost in the grand-daddy of all garden mazes, at Stra.
- Aquileia -- Before Venice, St. Mark is believed to have come this Adriatic town, and its 9th-century Basilica marks the site of his church. From the fourth century church remain the largest Paleo-Christian mosaic floor known in Western Europe.
In the Dolomites
- Bolzano – High in the mountains of the Sud-Tirol, the elegant city looks more Austrian than Italian, and for good reason, since it spent its first centuries under Bavarian and Austrian rule. A Gothic Duomo, frescoed cloisters, and “Frozen Fritz,” the 5300-year-old man found on a glacier nearby, are reasons to visit, along with its pleasant ambiance.
- The Cadore Valley – With few traditional tourist sights, the 60-mile drive from Belluno to Cortina d’Ampezzo through the Dolomites is all about scenery – and it doesn’t get any better than this. Thousand-foot peaks soar on all sides as the road winds above the Pieve River, through little Alpine villages, past cable cars for even higher views and over mountain passes.
Piemonte and the Lakes
- Isola San Giulia -- The island in Lake Orta, is entirely covered in Medieval buildings clustering around the 12th-century Basilica di San Giulio The sainted founder is buried in the crypt, and the church is full of art from the 9th to the 12th century: frescoes, intricately carved columns and a carved marble pulpit.
- The Langhe Hills – Known for both their rolling vineyard-crested scenery and for the wines they produce, the hills near Turin are a foody’s dream, with hazelnuts, honey, orchard-fresh fruits, pastured meats and cooks who know how to use them.
- Bergamo – This thoroughly charming city has a split personality, with its Medieval cobbled streets through a walled old town, atop a rocky crag above the “new” 18th-century plazas and avenues below.
- Brescia – Overlooked by tourists, the city is filled with Roman sites, including parts of the forum, an amphitheater and an entire villa excavated under its museum.
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