Antonio Fogazzaro distilled his love for the Vicenza territory in all his novels, especially in his greatest literary successes "Piccolo Mondo Antico" (1896) and "Piccolo Mondo Moderno" (1901).
Married to Margherita Valmarana, he lived at Villa Valmarana ai Nani, in the early southern outskirts of Vicenza, the starting point of our itinerary. From here you can delve into the historic center of Vicenza, between the Basilica Palladiana and Corso Fogazzaro, where at number 111 Antonio was born in 1842. Exiting the city, one moves south to Villa Fogazzaro Colbacchini in Montegalda, a place described in "Piccolo Mondo Moderno" and much loved by the writer for its pastoral beauty.
Heading towards the Vicenza mountains, a visit to Tonezza del Cimone and Villa Valmarana di Velo d'Astico is a must, with landscapes repeatedly described by the writer. Another residence, the sumptuous Villa Caldogno designed by Palladio, represents the soul of a town, Caldogno, which Fogazzaro always kept in his heart and where he served as a city councilor from 1885 to 1911, the year of his death.
Passing through Bassano del Grappa, we return to Vicenza, at Piazza San Lorenzo. Here, at the foot of the monument to the poet Zanella, Fogazzaro's spiritual guide, the journey concludes in the places dear to the Vicenza writer who was nominated multiple times for the Nobel Prize in Literature.
