First impressions heading out of Venice on the Ponte della Libertà, the bridge over La Serenissima’s lagoon to the Domini di Terraferma, are not very promising, as I pass by the giant refineries of the mainland’s petrochemical industry, then the immense skeleton of a mega cruise liner under construction in sprawling maritime dockyards. But after 20 minutes, verdant countryside suddenly replaces built-up suburbia as my bus arrives alongside the snaking banks of the Naviglio del Brenta, the final part of the mighty Brenta river that engineers made “navigable” like a canal, back in the 16th century.
Known as the Riviera del Brenta, this bucolic rural paradise was where Venice’s wealthy nobility sought to escape the heat and noisy crowds of the city by building palatial waterside boltholes. Fabulous villas emerged with gardens designed by Antonio Palladio and his proteges, decorated with stunning frescoes by the likes of Giovanni Tiepolo.
