Veneto
Veneto is a mosaic of landscapes and civilisations packed into a single region: the Dolomite peaks of Cortina and the Marmolada, a...
Updated 11 July 2026
Veneto
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The story of Veneto
A mosaic from the mountains to the lagoon
Few Italian regions pack in as much geographical variety as Veneto. To the north rise the Dolomiti Bellunesi, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, with the spires of Cadore, the Tre Cime di Lavaredo and the Marmolada, the 'Queen of the Dolomites'. Further down, the Prealps give way to the Prosecco hills between Conegliano and Valdobbiadene, also UNESCO-listed, and to the volcanic, thermal Euganean Hills. The region's heart is a vast plain crossed by the Po, Adige and Brenta rivers, dotted with art cities and historic villas. To the east, the Venice Lagoon creates a landscape unique in the world, made of islands, canals and salt marshes. To the west, Lake Garda offers a Mediterranean microclimate. This variety makes Veneto a destination where you could ski in the Dolomites and swim in the lagoon in the same weekend.
From the ancient Veneti to the Serenissima
Veneto's history is rooted in the ancient Veneti, an Iron Age people who between the 1st millennium BC left significant traces at Este and Padua, with their own art and language documented by Venetic inscriptions. With the Roman conquest the region became part of Regio X Venetia et Histria, and cities such as Verona and Aquileia flourished as commercial and military hubs along the great consular roads. After the barbarian invasions, Venice was born from the lagoons between Torcello and Rialto, and in the Middle Ages grew into the Serenissima Republic: a maritime and mercantile power that for over a thousand years dominated the Adriatic and trade with the East, extending its rule from the sea to Lombardy and the Venetian mainland. The Republic's fall in 1797 at Napoleon's hands marked the end of an era, followed by Austrian rule and finally annexation to the Kingdom of Italy in 1866.
Venice and its lagoon
Venice is probably the most unique city in the world: built on over a hundred small islands linked by bridges and threaded by canals instead of streets, it has been a UNESCO World Heritage Site together with its lagoon since 1987. St Mark's Square, with its Byzantine Basilica and the Doge's Palace, remains the symbolic heart of the Serenissima, while the Grand Canal, lined with Gothic and Renaissance palazzi, is best explored by vaporetto or gondola. Beyond the historic centre, the lagoon holds an archipelago worth discovering: Murano and its centuries-old glassmaking tradition, Burano with its colourful houses and lace, and Torcello, the quiet cradle of lagoon civilisation. The Venice Carnival, with its masks, and the Art Biennale draw visitors from around the world, while the less touristy sestieri still hold the city's authentic soul.
Verona, city of the Arena
Verona, a UNESCO World Heritage Site for its two-thousand-year-old urban fabric, is the city of love par excellence thanks to Romeo and Juliet, Shakespeare's tragedy set among its streets: the famous House of Juliet, with its balcony and courtyard crowded with love notes, is an essential stop. The symbolic monument, however, remains the Arena, a perfectly preserved 1st-century Roman amphitheatre that in summer hosts one of the world's most prestigious opera festivals. The historic centre unfolds along the bend of the Adige River, between Piazza delle Erbe, Piazza dei Signori and the mighty Castelvecchio, a Scaliger fortress now a museum. Verona is also the gateway to Lake Garda and the heart of Valpolicella, home of Amarone wine.
Padua, Giotto and knowledge
Padua is one of Veneto's cities most steeped in history and culture. In the Scrovegni Chapel, Giotto painted between 1303 and 1305 one of the most revolutionary fresco cycles in the history of Western art, introducing an emotional and spatial depth never seen before. Not far away, the Basilica of St Anthony holds the saint's remains and is a destination for international pilgrimage. Padua also boasts one of Europe's oldest universities, founded in 1222, where Galileo Galilei taught and where in 1678 Elena Lucrezia Cornaro Piscopia became the first woman in the world to earn a university degree. Adjacent to the university, the Botanical Garden — the oldest university botanical garden still in its original location — has been a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1997. Piazza delle Erbe and Prato della Valle complete the portrait of a lively, learned city.
Vicenza, the city of Palladio
Vicenza is inseparably linked to the genius of Andrea Palladio, the Renaissance architect who in the 16th century transformed the city's face and inspired Western architecture for centuries, from Jefferson's Virginia to English country houses. The Basilica Palladiana, with its white stone loggia, dominates Piazza dei Signori, while the Teatro Olimpico, a masterpiece of perspective scenography, is the oldest surviving indoor theatre in the world still in use. Just outside the walls stands Villa La Rotonda, perhaps the most famous and imitated villa in the history of architecture, with its central plan crowned by a dome. Vicenza and the Palladian villas of the province have been a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1994, an itinerary that crosses the entire Vicenza countryside.
The Belluno Dolomites
The province of Belluno holds the most alpine face of Veneto, that of the Belluno Dolomites, included since 2009 in the UNESCO serial site that also comprises the Tre Cime di Lavaredo and the Marmolada, the most extensive glacier in the Dolomites and the region's highest point at 3,343 metres. Cortina d'Ampezzo, the 'Queen of the Dolomites', is Italy's most famous alpine resort, host of the 1956 Winter Olympics and again in 2026, together with Milan. In summer, the Belluno Dolomites offer trekking among spires and plateaus, such as those in the National Park; in winter, ski slopes for every level. Not far away, Lake Misurina and the Ladin atmosphere of Cortina and Cadore preserve a distinct mountain culture, with its own language, traditions and architecture.
The Venetian Villas
Along the Brenta river, between Venice and Padua, winds the famous Brenta Riviera, a succession of Venetian villas built between the 16th and 18th centuries by the great families of the Serenissima as summer holiday residences. Villa Pisani at Stra, with its monumental park and famous maze, and Villa Foscari 'la Malcontenta', a Palladian masterpiece, are the most celebrated, but the region counts over four thousand villas, also scattered across the Treviso and Vicenza areas. They were once reached by boat along the Naviglio del Brenta, a journey that can still be retraced today, reliving the atmosphere of Venetian noble holidaymaking. The villas testify to an era in which the Venetian patriciate, gradually withdrawing from maritime trade, invested in agriculture and the art of living on the mainland.
Lake Garda and the Euganean Hills
Western Veneto offers two different faces of gentle holiday-making. Lake Garda, Italy's largest lake, washes its Veneto shore around towns such as Peschiera del Garda, Bardolino and Garda, where the mild climate favours olive groves and vineyards in an almost Mediterranean landscape: water sports, lakeside villages and Bardolino and Custoza wines draw visitors year-round. A little further east, the volcanic Euganean Hills hold one of Europe's oldest thermal spa districts, with resorts such as Abano Terme and Montegrotto Terme already frequented in Roman times. The Euganean Hills Regional Park, with the Abbey of Praglia and the medieval hamlet of Arquà Petrarca, where the poet Francesco Petrarca spent his last years, offers routes among vineyards, olive groves and views over the plain.
Venetian cuisine
Venetian cuisine tells of the region's dual soul, of sea and land. Baccalà alla vicentina, slow-cooked salt cod in milk with onion and anchovies, is perhaps the most identity-defining dish, while risi e bisi, a soup of rice and young peas, was once a dish of honour at the table of the Doges. Treviso's red radicchio, sweet and slightly bitter, is enjoyed grilled or raw, and tiramisù, traditionally born in Treviso, now closes meals worldwide. In Venice reigns the ritual of cicchetti, small bites served in bacari, the historic taverns, accompanied by an 'ombra' of wine or a spritz, the region's iconic aperitif. There is also polenta, omnipresent on Venetian tables, bigoli pasta with duck, and in the lagoon, fresh fish dishes, from cuttlefish in its own ink to moeche, the soft-shell crabs typical of the Venetian spring.
The great wines of Veneto
Veneto is Italy's leading wine region by production and among the most prestigious for quality. The hills of Conegliano and Valdobbiadene, a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 2019, are the cradle of Prosecco, a dry, fragrant sparkling wine made from Glera grapes. In Valpolicella, on the outskirts of Verona, Amarone is born, an intense, velvety red wine made from dried grapes, alongside the younger, more easy-drinking Valpolicella Ripasso. Soave, a dry, mineral white made from Garganega grapes, is among the most exported Italian white wines in the world. On Lake Garda, Bardolino, a light red, and Custoza are produced. Following Veneto's Wine Roads, among historic wineries and terraced hillside landscapes, is one of the most authentic ways to get to know this region.
When to go
Veneto can be visited in every season, but each period reveals a different face. Spring is ideal for Venice and the art cities, with mild temperatures and fewer crowds than in summer, plus the Carnival in February. Summer is the season for trekking in the Dolomites and swimming in Lake Garda, but also for major festivals, such as the Opera Festival at the Verona Arena. Autumn brings the grape harvest in the Prosecco and Valpolicella hills and the warm colours of the Dolomite forests, along with the traditional Venetian acqua alta. Winter turns Cortina d'Ampezzo and the Belluno Dolomites into a world-class skiing destination, while Venice, wrapped in mist, offers a more intimate, secluded atmosphere, culminating in the famous Carnival.
Unmissable experiences in Veneto
- Ammirare il tramonto su Piazza San Marco a Venezia durante un giro in gondola lungo il Canal Grande
- Admire the sunset over St Mark's Square in Venice during a gondola ride along the Grand Canal
- Admirar la puesta de sol sobre la Piazza San Marco en Venecia durante un paseo en góndola por el Gran Canal
- Admirer le coucher de soleil sur la place Saint-Marc à Venise lors d'un tour en gondole sur le Grand Canal
- Den Sonnenuntergang über dem Markusplatz in Venedig bei einer Gondelfahrt auf dem Canal Grande bewundern
- Admirar o pôr do sol sobre a Praça de São Marcos em Veneza durante um passeio de gôndola pelo Grande Canal
- 乘贡多拉沿大运河游览，欣赏威尼斯圣马可广场的日落
- カナル・グランデをゴンドラで巡りながら、サン・マルコ広場に沈む夕日を眺める
- مشاهدة غروب الشمس فوق ساحة سان ماركو في البندقية أثناء جولة بالغندول على طول القناة الكبرى
- ग्रांड कैनाल के किनारे गोंडोला की सवारी के दौरान सान मार्को चौक पर सूर्यास्त देखना
- Полюбоваться закатом над площадью Сан-Марко в Венеции во время прогулки на гондоле по Гранд-каналу
- Θαυμάστε το ηλιοβασίλεμα πάνω από την πλατεία του Αγίου Μάρκου στη Βενετία κατά τη διάρκεια μιας βόλτας με γόνδολα στο Μεγάλο Κανάλι
- Admironi perëndimin e diellit mbi Sheshin San Marko në Venedik gjatë një xhiroje me gondolë përgjatë Kanalit të Madh
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