Vicenza

The Euganei and then the Veneti settled the site, and by 157 BC it was in effect a Roman town, Vicetia, whose citizens received Roman citizenship in 49 BC. It lived on farming, brickworks, marble and wool and stood on the road from Milan to Aquileia, but was overshadowed by Padua; three bridges and some arches of an aqueduct survive. Goths, Lombards and Franks followed, and in 899 Magyar raiders destroyed the city. In 1001 Emperor Otto III gave its government to the bishop, and the commune that grew up joined the Lombard League against Frederick Barbarossa.

Factional fighting, rule by Ezzelino III da Romano, a sack by Frederick II in 1237, Paduan protection and the Scaligeri of Verona filled the next two centuries, until Vicenza passed to Venice in 1404. Its golden age came in the 16th century, when Andrea Palladio, working for the city's nobles, rebuilt its town hall, designed palaces along its streets and villas across the countryside, and left the Teatro Olimpico unfinished at his death in 1580.

After 1797 came Napoleon and then Austria. In 1848 the people rose against the Austrians more fiercely than anywhere in Italy except Milan and Brescia, and in 1866 Vicenza joined Italy. Both world wars brought heavy fighting nearby, and Allied bombing made it the most damaged city in the Veneto, killing over 2,000 civilians. From the 1960s family firms drove the "miracle of the north-east". The US Army post of Caserma Ederle became a headquarters in 1965, and in 1994 UNESCO listed the City of Palladio, extended in 1996 to the villas.

Palladio defines the city. Twenty-three of its buildings are his, and his villas were often copied in the 18th and 19th centuries. The Teatro Olimpico, with Scamozzi's receding wooden streets, still stages concerts and plays, among them the June Settimane Musicali, and May brings an international jazz festival. The Accademia Olimpica, which commissioned the theatre, and the Biblioteca Bertoliana, open since 1708, reflect a long civic culture; the 15th-century house of Antonio Pigafetta, chronicler of Magellan's voyage, still stands in the centre.

Religious life centres on the sanctuary of Monte Berico, which commemorates apparitions of the Virgin and the city's deliverance from plague, and every 8 September pilgrims climb to it in procession. The city's patron saint is Vincent of Saragossa, whose church faces the Basilica on Piazza dei Signori.

Vicenza was a land of emigration: over a million people left the province between 1876 and 1976, for Brazil, the Americas, Australia and the rest of Europe, and millions around the world claim Vicentine descent. Today it receives immigrants, the largest group from the United States because of the military base, followed by Serbians, Romanians, Moldovans, Bangladeshis, Pakistanis and Moroccans. Football club LR Vicenza, which plays at the Stadio Romeo Menti, won promotion to Serie B for the 2026–27 season, and Rangers Vicenza play rugby in the top division.

About 111,000 people now live in the city (115,927 in 2008), and some 270,000 lived in its wider area in 2008. Vicenza is one of Italy's wealthiest cities and its third-largest industrial centre by the value of exports. Textiles, steel, clothing and jewellery lead — about a fifth of Italy's gold and jewellery is made here — and Diesel, Bottega Veneta, Marzotto, the bicycle-parts maker Campagnolo and the sportswear firm Dainese all have roots or headquarters in the area. The microprocessor's co-inventor Federico Faggin was born in the city.

The industrial zones spread west towards Montecchio Maggiore and Chiampo and east towards Torri di Quartesolo, and the city's rapid post-war growth produced large, disorganised sprawl. The US Army post at Caserma Ederle, headquarters of United States Army Africa and the 173rd Airborne Brigade, is a long-standing presence on the edge of the city.

The rhythm is that of a prosperous provincial city: offices and workshops by day, the evening passeggiata along Corso Palladio and a spritz in Piazza dei Signori, meals in the village restaurants of the Berici Hills and, every second Sunday of the month, a flea market in the centre. The twice-yearly jewellery fair fills hotels and restaurants with buyers from around the world.

Vicenza's cooking comes from a poor, rural past: game, cheese and vegetables rather than the fish of Venice, with polenta at almost every meal, soft from the pot or sliced and grilled. The signature dish is baccalà alla vicentina, stockfish slowly cooked with onions, anchovies, milk and a mature cheese and served with polenta; it appeared on Vicentine tables in the 16th century. Bigoi co' l'arna, thick strands of soft-wheat pasta pressed through a hand-turned press and dressed with duck ragù, are a purely local dish.

Other first courses include risotto with bruscandoli, wild hop shoots gathered at the edges of paths in the Berici Hills; risi e bisi, rice and peas; pasta e fagioli made the Vicentine way with egg tagliatelle; and panà, a soup of stale bread and chicken broth. Sopressa vicentina, a large pork salami about 8 cm across, and Asiago cheese, fresh or aged, both carry protected designations, and goose preserved in its own fat, oca in onto, is protected by Slow Food.

The province supplies cherries from Marostica, white asparagus from Bassano del Grappa, truffles from Nanto and Breganze wines. The putana is a rustic cake of maize flour with dried fruit, figs and nuts, sold in pastry shops in a richer modern version. A team of local pastry cooks, poking fun at the city's magnagati nickname, invented a cake called la gata.