The historic center of Badia Polesine, an important center in the province of Rovigo, preserves and showcases art and history. A long street (Contrada Sant'Alberto) parallel to the Adigetto constitutes the main axis of the town.
The itinerary compares two architectural gems of Badia: the Abbey of Vangadizza and the Balzan Gallery. It begins with a visit to the Abbey of Vangadizza, a territorial abbey that represents one of the oldest places of worship in the area.
The Abbey dates back to the mid-10th century when the Estensi called the Benedictines to Badia, transferring several of their possessions in the area. Already in the first half of the 1200s, the regular Benedictines were succeeded by the Camaldolese, who would manage the fate of the monastery until its definitive suppression by the Napoleonic decree of 1810. Certainly, the trapezoidal cloister, dating back to the 1200s, is the most interesting and evocative architectural element of the Abbey.
From the cloister, through an elegant portal made of red Verona marble, one accesses the refectory, and crossing the door in front leads to the Abbot's garden, from which one reaches the piazza of Vangadizza, a large space in front of the former church of the Abbey of Vangadizza. Today, only the perimeter walls of the church remain, as it was demolished in 1836 during the period of French ownership.
Continuing towards the Eugenio Balzan Social Theater, defined by many as the "little Phoenix". Inside the small hall, there is a prestigious gallery, the Balzan Painting Collection, consisting of 49 works created by 26 Italian painters, encapsulating some absolute peaks of the painting of the time, such as works by Domenico Morelli, the canvases of Mosè Bianchi, and the paintings of Filippo Palizzi, including the extraordinary Young Girl on the Rock at Sorrento.
