Obligatory Cittadella Post

With our car being broken (still), we've been looking for mini-trips close to home for the last several months. In the week between Christmas and New Year's we were further hampered by illness and bad weather, but were able to take advantage of a rare nice day in early January to head out on an adventure. I'd been wanting to visit Cittadella, so broached that as a possible option. Contrary to my usual style, we didn't really do any research ahead of time; all we knew was that there was a castle with walls you could walk on, and that was enough for us. We plugged "Cittadella" into the GPS - it's only about 35 minutes from home - and away we went!

As we got closer, we saw several signs, and at some point we opted to follow them instead of the GPS. We saw a church spire (duh, it's Italy) and then the wall. We turned right along the castle wall, and parked in between the moat and the city. As it turns out, Cittadella is an entire walled city, with four castle keeps, and the whole things is surrounded by a moat. We entered the city through an arch in the wall, and started walking toward the center, hoping to see tourist information signs. Other than a few bicyclists and locals out walking, the city was quite dead. We timed our arrival for about 2:00pm, which is smack in the middle of the typical Italian riposo period when things close down. We quickly discovered the streets are laid out in a grid pattern, passed the church which beckoned our arrival, and found the main city square with a giant Christmas tree and small skating rink, both deserted.

Moat!

Duomo

At the church, we randomly turned to the right and eventually found the ticket office and museum, which we had to climb up to enter. The ticket lady responded to my hesitant Italian and we paid for our tickets while she kept talking. Given my blank look, she laughed and then asked if we spoke English, to which we gratefully replied. I'm looking forward to the day when my Italian skills can handle more than the most rudimentary of interactions! Anyway, she handed us a map and an informational flyer, and explained that you could walk the entire perimeter of the city wall, going over a church and into another museum section. I forgot to turn on my phone's GPS, but later we calculated that the perimeter was probably around a mile. A quick wikipedia check says it is 4,793 feet, so our guesstimate came pretty close.

Medeival Cittadella Wall

Cittadella, which is in the province of Padova (Padua), was first built in the 1200s and has been the site of several battles and at least one major siege. Every year in September the locals get together to reenact the siege, and in the museum you could see pictures and examples of clothing, armor, and coats-of-arms of important families who've held the territory. It's location is geographically significant, since it rests roughly halfway between Padova and Vicenza, and halfway between Verona and Venice. The four main arches entering the city aren't labeled with polar directions, but with the names of the next major town in each direction.

Porte Bassanesi - Bassano Entrance

The Cathedral, built in the 19th century

I enjoyed the outing, and it was equally pleasant to look outside the wall as inside. We circumnavigated the cathedral, which made a great landmark, and traversed atop another smaller church (Santa Maria del Torresino) as well. I was busy taking pictures of the smaller church's bells when suddenly they began to ring! Turns out my mischievous husband found the bell-cord and couldn't resist. Not to be outdone, I gave it a good yank as well, and then we rushed off giggling. In our defense, there weren't any signs (in any language) saying NOT to touch or pull the cord, and it was practically shouting at us to tug on it.

Some of the houses near the wall were amazingly beautiful, and we found a backyard which we instantly coveted. It had a giant magnolia tree in the center, which was slightly elevated and surrounded by stone pavers and steps leading up to it. The inhabitants apparently also like to take advantage of good weather and eat outdoors, as they also had a patio with outdoor seating, firepit, and a roll-up shade tarp. I go to bed at night and dream about that yard, it was so fabulous. On the other end of the spectrum, we also passed a large but ramshackle place which had sort of a barn attached to it. Inside the barn were stacks and stacks of folding chairs, and a teeny tiny old car covered with dirt and moss. I get the feeling that car has been there for many years.

Awesome backyard

Apparently the Cittadella wall has been renovated fairly recently, and I think the construction workers did a great job. There are still areas with original stonework to walk on, but much of it is now concrete and newer brick. Some of the supporting tower-like structures (sorry, I don't know the architectural names for things) are leaning both into the city center and outwards, but you never get the impression that anything is shaky or unstable. One section of the wall is missing, and historians disagree if it is due to a natural collapse described in the 1700s or catapult damage during a war in the 1500s. The walkway there is more like an open catwalk, with metal steps zigzagging you up and down as you continue making your way around the oval walls. There are no foundations to the wall, which is supported by embankments piled up both inside and out.

Parapet over the destroyed section of the city wall

After we completed our loop, we walked back through the town center, which was teeming with people. We stopped for a minute to watch people on the skating rink. I was kind of interested in going into the church and its adjacent tower, but by then Tony's cold was starting to get the better of him. Whenever we have visitors, Cittadella would definitely be on the list of places to visit, as it was a great afternoon, close by, and not too strenuous. Plus, it looked like there were some nice gelaterias worth visiting, and you know I have a hard time saying no to gelato!

Ice skating rink in Cittadella

Here's the wikipedia link, if you're interested in learning more. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cittadella