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Vicenza
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Vicenza, a city in northern Italy, is the capital of the eponymous province in the Veneto region, at the northern base of the Monte Berico, straddling the Bacchiglione. Vicenza is approximately 60 km west of Venice and 200 km east of Milan.
As of 2007, Vicenza had an estimated population of 119,038.
Vicenza is the third largest Italian industrial city by export.
ntia was settled by the Italic Euganei and then by the Palaeo-Veneti in the 2nd-3rd century BC, from whom it was taken by the Gauls.
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Encyclopedia
Vicenza, a city in northern Italy, is the capital of the eponymous province in the Veneto region, at the northern base of the Monte Berico, straddling the Bacchiglione. Vicenza is approximately 60 km west of Venice and 200 km east of Milan.
As of 2007, Vicenza had an estimated population of 119,038.
Vicenza is the third largest Italian industrial city by export.
History
Roman age
Vicentia was settled by the Italic Euganei and then by the Palaeo-Veneti in the 2nd-3rd century BC, from whom it was taken by the Gauls. The Romans conquered it to the latter in 157 BC, giving the city the name of Vicetia or Vincentia ("victorious").
The Vicentini received the Roman citizenship in 49 BC. The city had some importance as a hub on the important road from Mediolanum to Aquileia, but was overshadowed by its neighbor Patavium (Padua). Little survives of the Roman city, but three of the bridges across the Bacchiglione and Retrone rivers are of Roman origin, and isolated arches of a Roman aqueduct exist outside Porta Santa Croce.
During the decline of the Western Roman Empire, Heruls, Vandals, Alaric and Huns laid the area to waste, but the city recovered after the Ostrogoth conquest in 489. It was also an important Lombard and then Frank centre. Numerous Benedictine monasteries were built in Vicenza area, which, in particular, dried the lake that once was located north of Vicenza by export.
Middle Ages
In 899 Vicenza was destroyed by Magyar raiders.
In 1001 Otto III handed over the government of the city to the bishop, and its communal organization had an opportunity to develop, separating soon from the episcopal authority. It took an active part in the League with Verona and, most of all, in the Lombard League (1164-1167) against Emperor Frederick I Barbarossa compelling Padua and Treviso to join: its podestà, Ezzelino II il Balbo, was captain of the league. When peace was restored, however, the old rivalry with Padua, Bassano, and other cities was renewed, besides which there were the internal factions of the Vivaresi (Ghibellines) and the Maltraversi (Guelphs).
The tyrannical Ezzelino III drove the Guelphs out of Vicenza, and caused his brother, Alberico, to be elected podestà (1230). The independent commune joined the Second Lombard League against Emperor Frederick II, and was sacked by that monarch (1237), after which it was annexed to Ezzelino's dominions. On his death the old oligarchic republic political structure was restored -a consiglio maggiore ("grand council") of four hundred members and a consiglio minore ("small council") of forty members - and it formed a league with Padua, Treviso and Verona. Three years later the Vicentines entrusted the protection of the city to Padua, so as to safeguard republican liberty; but this protectorate (custodia) quickly became dominion, and for that reason Vicenza in 1311 submitted to the Scaligeri lords of Verona, who fortified it against the Visconti of Milan.
Vicenza came under rule of Venice in 1404, and its subsequent history is that of Venice. It was besieged by the Emperor Sigismund, and Maximilian I held possession of it in 1509 and 1516.
Modern age
Vicenza was a candidate to host the Council of Trent.
The 16th century was the time of Andrea Palladio, who left many outstanding examples of his art with palaces and villas in the city's territory.
After 1797, under Napoleonic rule, it was made a duché grand-fief (not a grand duchy, but a hereditary (extinguished in 1896), nominal duchy, a rare honor reserved for French officials) within Bonaparte's personal Kingdom of Italy for general Caulaincourt, also imperial Grand-Écuyer.
After 1814, Vicenza passed to the Austrian Empire. In 1848, however, the populous rose against Austria, but it was recovered after a stubborn resistance. As a part of the Kingdom of Lombardy-Venetia, it was annexed to Italy after the 3rd war of Italian independence.
Vicenza's area was a location of fights in both World War I and World War II. After the end of the latter, strong economic development made it one of the richest cities in Italy.
Vicenza is home to the United States Army post Caserma Ederle (Camp Ederle), also known as the U.S. Army Garrison Vicenza. In 1965, Caserma Ederle became the headquarters for the Southern European Task Force, and today is the central U.S. military installation in Southern Europe.
In January 2006 the European Gendarmerie Force was inaugurated in Vicenza.
Economy
The surrounding country is agricultural, but there are also quarries of marble, sulphur, copper, and silver mines, and beds of lignite and kaolin; mineral springs also abound, the most famous being those of Recoaro. The city has an active and lively industrial sector, which is especially famous for jewelry and clothing factories. The Gold Exposition is world-famous and it takes place in Vicenza three times per year (January, May, September). Other industries worthy of mention are the woollen and silk, pottery, and musical instruments. The headquarters of the bicycle component manufacturer Campagnolo are located here.
Demographics
In 2007, there were 114,268 people residing in Vicenza, located in the province of Vicenza, Veneto, of whom 47.6% were male and 52.4% were female. Minors (children ages 18 and younger) totalled 17.17 percent of the population compared to pensioners who number 21.60 percent. This compares with the Italian average of 18.06 percent (minors) and 19.94 percent (pensioners). The average age of Vicenza residents is 43 compared to the Italian average of 42. In the five years between 2002 and 2007, the population of Vicenza grew by 3.72 percent, while Italy as a whole grew by 3.85 percent. The current birth rate of Vicenza is 9.16 births per 1,000 inhabitants compared to the Italian average of 9.45 births.
As of 2006, 87.53% of the population was Italian. The largest immigrant group comes from other European nations (the largest being Serbia, Albania, and Bosnia): 6.28%, South Asian 1.85%, sub-saharan Africa: 1.44%, and North Africa: 1.36%. Currently one quarter babies born in Vicenza has at least one foreign parent. The city is predominantly Roman Catholic, but due to immigration now has some Orthodox Christian, Muslim and Sikh followers.
Main sights
In 1994 UNESCO inscribed "Vicenza, City of Palladio" on its list of World Heritage Sites. In 1996 the site was expanded to include the Palladian villas outside the core area, and accordingly renamed "City of Palladio and the Palladian Villas of the Veneto".
Palladio's works
Vicenza is home to twenty-three buildings designed by Palladio. The famous ones include:
Other sights
Churches
- The cathedral, dating from early in the 11th century, and restored in the 13th, 16th, and 19th, possesses numerous pictures and sculptures, nearly all of them by Vicentine artists (Cittadello, Celestia, Liberi, Ruschi).
- The Church of Araceli (1244), by Guarino Guaroini, formerly belonged to the Clarisses, contains statues by Orazio Marinali and Cassetti, and paintings by Tiepolo.
- The Churches of the Carmini (1372) and St. Catherine (1292), formerly belonging to the Humiliati, possess notable pictures.
- Santa Corona (1260) was built by the Dominicans after the death of Ezzelino, and is pictures by Montagna (The Magdelene) and Relline (Baptism of Christ).
- Santa Croce (1179)
- SS. Felice and Fortunato (8th century)
- SS. Filippo and Giacomo (12th century)
- S. Lorenzo of the Friars Minor (1280), in the Gothic style, contains the tombs of many illustrious Vicentines.
- In the cloister of S. Maria of the Servites (1319) took place the miracles of St. Philip Benizi de Damiani.
Secular buildings
- The Torre Bissara (clock tower) (1224-1446).
- The Biblioteca Civica Bertoliana, public library founded by Count Giovanni M. Bertolo.
- Casa Pigafetta.
- The Pinacotheca Civica houses mainly Vicentine paintings in the Palladian Palazzo Chiericati.
Sport
Vicenza is home to Vicenza Calcio who currently play in Serie B. Their home is the Stadio Romeo Menti.
Popular dishes
The inhabitants of Vicenza are jestly known to other Italians as magnagati 'cat eaters'. Purportedly, Vicentinos turned to cats for sustenance during times of famine.
Famous people from Vicenza
- Flavio Albanese, architect
- Roberto Baggio, football player
- Giuseppina M. Bakhita, saint
- Fernando Bandini, writer
- Valerio Belli, sculptor and engraver
- Maria Bertilla Boscardin, saint
- Ottavio Bertotti Scamozzi, architect
- Gelindo Bordin, athlete
- Roberto Busa, religious and informatic engineer
- Tullio Campagnolo, bicycle maker
- Domenico Cerato, priest and architect
- Francesco Chieregati, papal nuncio, bishop
- Luigi Da Porto, writer
- Almerico da Schio, astronomer and inventor
- Otello De Maria, painter
- Ilvo Diamanti, political scientist
- Federico Faggin, inventor
- Adolfo Farsari, photographer
- Ferreto dei Ferreti, historian (fourteenth century)
- Antonio Fogazzaro, writer
- Giovanni Giaconi, artist
- Antonio Giuriolo, partisan
- Fedele Lampertico, economist, writer and politician
- Niccolò Leoniceno, medic
- Paolo Lioy, naturalist
- Luigi Meneghello, writer (professor at Reading University)
- Francesco Muttoni, architect
- Andrea Palladio, architect
- Goffredo Parise, writer
- Antonio Pigafetta, explorer, companion of Ferdinand Magellan
- Guido Piovene, journalist and writer
- Orlando Pizzolato, athlete
- Manuel Righele, novelist and short story writer
- Sergio Romano, diplomatic and historician
- Paolo Rossi, football player
- Mariano Rumor, politician
- Flo Sandon's, singer
- Vincenzo Scamozzi, architect
- Gian Antonio Stella, journalist and writer
- Tiziano Treu, politician
- Vitaliano Trevisan, writer and actor
- Gian Giorgio Trissino, humanist and poet (1478-1553)
- Nicola Vicentino, theorist and composer
- Giacomo Zanella, writer and priest
- Amy Adams , American actress
- Mark Nightshade, American Primitive Folk Artist / Folk Artist on Tour Painting the Working Class of Italy
Twin cities
Annecy, France, from 1995
Pforzheim, Germany, from 1991
Sources
See also
External links
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