Veneto

The Veneti, an Iron Age people with their own language, lived on the plain around Este and Padua before they became allies and then citizens of Rome. Roman Verona and Padua flourished, and Verona's Arena dates from the 1st century AD. From the 5th and 6th centuries, refugees from the Huns and later the Lombards settled the islands of the lagoon, and Venice grew from these settlements under its elected doges.

Venice became a maritime empire trading with Byzantium and the Levant. It took a large share of the spoils of the Fourth Crusade in 1204, beat Genoa in a long rivalry, and in the early 15th century conquered the mainland, absorbing Padua, Vicenza and Verona, earlier ruled by the Carrara and the della Scala. Venetian patricians built country villas, many by Andrea Palladio, and at Padua's university, founded in 1222, Galileo taught and Copernicus studied.

Napoleon ended the Republic in 1797 and handed it to Austria; the Veneto joined Italy in 1866. In the First World War, after the defeat at Caporetto in 1917, the Italian army held the line on the Piave and Monte Grappa and won at Vittorio Veneto in 1918. In 1963 a landslide into the Vajont reservoir sent a wave over the dam that destroyed Longarone and killed around 2,000 people. A rural region of emigrants became one of Italy's richest, built on family firms, and in 2017 voters backed greater autonomy in a regional referendum.

Venetian, the regional language, is spoken far more widely than most Italian dialects, across generations and classes, and people from Verona, Padua and Venice recognise each other by accent. Around Cortina, Ladin is spoken. Identity is strongly local and tied to the memory of the Serenissima, whose winged lion of Saint Mark still marks town squares.

Venice's calendar is full: Carnival, with its masks and costumed balls before Lent; the Festa del Redentore in July, with fireworks over the lagoon; the Regata Storica of historic boats in September; and the Biennale of art and architecture. Verona has staged opera in its Roman Arena every summer since 1913 and trades on Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet. Crafts include Murano glass, Burano lace, and ceramics at Bassano del Grappa and Nove.

Social life centres on the bàcaro, a Venetian wine bar where people stand over an ombra, a small glass of wine, and cicchetti, small snacks, or on the early-evening spritz, a drink the Veneto claims as its own. Catholic tradition remains stronger than in much of northern Italy, and the Basilica of Saint Anthony in Padua is one of Italy's major pilgrimage churches.

About 4.8 million people live in the Veneto. Venice's municipality has around 250,000 residents, but most live on the mainland in Mestre, and the historic centre has fallen below 50,000. Verona has about 255,000, Padua about 210,000, Vicenza about 110,000 and Treviso about 85,000.

The economy is a dense network of small and medium manufacturers in eyewear, clothing, footwear, furniture, machinery and food, with names such as Luxottica, Benetton and Diesel. Tourism is enormous: Venice alone receives millions of visitors a year, and Lake Garda, Cortina and the beaches of Jesolo and Bibione add more. Agriculture is intensive, with vineyards, maize, radicchio and dairy farming.

Life in the mainland towns is prosperous and orderly, with a strong work ethic and a busy aperitivo hour. The pressing issues are Venice's shrinking population and its dependence on tourism, cruise ships, short-term rentals, flooding — now held back by the MOSE barriers — and the day-tripper fee introduced in 2024.

The Veneto eats rice and polenta more than pasta, and seafood on the coast. Venice's classics are sarde in saor, fried sardines in sweet-and-sour onions; risi e bisi, rice with young peas; fegato alla veneziana, calf's liver with onions; risotto al nero di seppia, black with cuttlefish ink; and baccalà mantecato, whipped dried cod spread on polenta or bread. Vicenza has its own baccalà alla vicentina, stewed in milk, and bigoli, thick wholewheat spaghetti, are served in salsa with onions and anchovies. Treviso's long red radicchio is grilled, baked or stirred into risotto.

Cheeses include Asiago, from the plateau of the same name, Monte Veronese and Piave. Sweets include Verona's star-shaped pandoro, eaten at Christmas, and tiramisu, which Treviso claims as its invention, as well as Venetian fritole, carnival fritters.

The Veneto produces more wine than almost any Italian region: Prosecco from the Conegliano and Valdobbiadene hills; Valpolicella and Amarone, made from dried grapes, from the hills above Verona; white Soave; and light red Bardolino from Lake Garda. Grappa is associated with Bassano del Grappa, and the Bellini, Prosecco with white-peach purée, was created at Harry's Bar in Venice.

Venice needs days: St Mark's Basilica and the Doge's Palace on Piazza San Marco, the Grand Canal and the Rialto Bridge, the Gallerie dell'Accademia, the Peggy Guggenheim Collection, the Frari church and Tintoretto's canvases in the Scuola Grande di San Rocco. Across the lagoon lie Murano's glassworks, Burano's painted houses and Torcello's Byzantine mosaics, and the fishing town of Chioggia sits at its southern end.

Inland, Padua has Giotto's Scrovegni Chapel, the Basilica of Saint Anthony, its historic botanical garden and the vast Prato della Valle square, with the spa towns of the Euganean Hills nearby. Villas line the Brenta Riviera between Padua and Venice, among them Villa Pisani at Stra. Vicenza, with Palladio's villas a UNESCO World Heritage Site, has the Teatro Olimpico, the Basilica Palladiana and Villa La Rotonda. Verona offers the Arena, Piazza delle Erbe, Castelvecchio and San Zeno.

Lake Garda's eastern shore runs from Peschiera and Lazise through Bardolino and Garda to Malcesine, where a cable car climbs Monte Baldo. To the north, the Prosecco hills around Conegliano and Valdobbiadene lead to Asolo and Bassano del Grappa. In the Dolomites, Cortina d'Ampezzo is ringed by the Tofane, the Cinque Torri and the Lagazuoi, with its First World War tunnels, and the Tre Cime di Lavaredo rise on the border with South Tyrol.