Why did I bother will all that stuff about traffic in the Veneto? Well simply because it caused an interesting detour. From our hotel in Vicenza, city of Palladio, we visited the lovely Bassano del Grappa on our first morning.
Bassano is not a particularly famous tourist destination, but it is worth a visit.
This lovely wooden bridge over the River Brenta has been periodically destroyed by one thing or another, and rebuilt exactly the same each time. It was supposedly designed by Palladio.
And here is one horror I hadn't seen before: not electric candles, but little oil ones, presumably refillable.
We determined to press on to Treviso, but the heat, and the traffic, and the headlights at noon got to us, and so we made a little trip of pietas to Riese, birthplace of Pope St Pius X, whose feastday falls today in the new calendar.
The riposo, or lunchtime break and siesta, had just begun, so the house was closed. But they obligingly left the shutters and windows open, so I was able to take these pictures of inside.
This is the main street, with the church at the end (having the detached campanile so typical of the region) where he was baptised. Being the riposo, there was very little traffic, and soon we returned to Vicenza for our own lunch and riposo. 
Treviso will have to await another occasion. I am sure that it is worth waiting for.
Extuli electum de populo, oleo sancto meo unxi eum; ut manus mea sit semper cum eo, et brachium meum confirmet eum. (Introit)
It's from Psalm 88, of course, but then the penny dropped. They had used Pope Pius XIIs new psalter instead of the Vulgate. Regrettable, I suppose, but not inappropriate for the feast day of the Pope who had started the process of liturgical tinkering.
2 comments:
But, the important question Father: did you sample the grappa in Bassano del Grappa? I expect you have had grappa in the past, right? A bit like poitín to me – strength-wise at least!
Alas no: it was in the morning, we were driving and it was simply too hot!
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