Photo 1: Villa Pisani National Museum in Stra
A river cruise in the midst of the Venetian villas, a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Now the Burchiello is an elegant and modern river cruise ship that plies the Brenta river in the stretch that goes from Padua to Venice. It was once the means for Venetian nobles to reach their possessions on the Venetian mainland, to spend their holidays, to be able to better control the work of their peasants in the fields. They left Venice and rowed across the lagoon to reach the sea outlet of the Naviglio del Brenta in Fusina. From here they were hooked by ropes to the horses, which, positioned on the canal embankment, travelled the Naviglio against the current until they reached the noble villa along the way, or the final port of Padua in the locality of Portello (small port).
Photo 2:The river port of Padua at Portello
Photo 3: on board the Burchiello sailing on the Piovego
The Burchiello was a Venetian boat only for wealthy nobles, with a large central wooden cabin, with very fine workmanship and decorations, in short, it was a Ferrari or a Rolls-Royce of those times. They can be seen represented on various paintings by very famous painters, such as Tiepolo or Canaletto, in scenes depicting the life of ancient Venice and can be found in many museums around the world. But here we are, @mariacristinafossa and I for our river cruise, discovering this wonderful landscape and cultural itinerary. We will immerse ourselves in the history of Venice and its maximum splendor towards the fourteenth century AD, until its fall in 1797.
Photo 4: on thel Piovego
Photo 5: boathouse
Photo 6: walls of Padua on the Piovego with the lion of San Marco
Noi percorreremo il tragitto nel senso inverso da quello descritto sopra e non avremo bisogno di farci trainare da cavalli, o meglio avremo sempre dei cavalli che ci spingeranno sull’acqua , ma saranno cavalli motore (HP).
Arriviamo di buonora al Portello a Padova e ci imbarchiamo nella parte superiore della barca all’aria aperta, è un buon modo anche per abbronzarsi! Quando iniziamo la navigazione passiamo per canali non molto larghi e sopra alle nostre teste passano ponti in mattoni che chiaramente hanno un buon numero di secoli e ancora sopportano il traffico di auto di tutti i giorni.
E’ il tratto denominato Canale Piovego e lungo il suo percorso usciamo dalla città di Padova. Con un lungo rettilineo passiamo a fianco della zona industriale per immetterci in un crocevia acquatico dentro il fiume Brenta ma qui, invece si seguire la corrente del fiume, lo attraversiamo per prendere il Naviglio del Brenta e affrontare la prima chiusa. È l’antico percorso del fiume che venne deviato da imponenti lavori idraulici per meglio sfruttare le vie d’acqua da parte dei veneziani.
We will travel the route in the opposite direction to that described above and we will not need to be pulled by horses, or rather we will always have horses that will push us on the water, but they will be the horsepower of the engine (HP). We arrive early at the Portello di Padova and embark on the upper part of the boat in the open air, it’s also a good way to get a tan! When we set sail we cross not very wide canals and above our heads there are masonry bridges that are clearly a good number of centuries old and still resist the daily car traffic. It is the stretch called Canale Piovego and along its route you leave the city of Padua. With a long straight road we skirt the industrial area to enter a watery crossroads within the Brenta river but here, instead of following the current of the river, we cross it to take the Naviglio del Brenta and face the first lock. It is the ancient course of the river which was diverted by the Venetians with massive hydraulic works to better exploit the watercourses. The locks are systems to allow boats to overcome the unevenness of the ground. There are five that we will have to travel along the Naviglio del Brenta, all built with Vincian doors invented by the genius of Leonardo Da Vinci. Burchiello enters a large pool and a huge door closes behind him. We are still at the level of the river we have traveled, but once the bulkhead is closed the water begins to go down as if the plug of a large sink had been removed. The boat goes down skimming the walls that make up the lock. When the water reaches the level of the next section of the route, the two doors of the ship’s forward lock open and navigation resumes at two/three meters in altitude. Always a thrill the whole process done by one man.
Photo 7: The Naviglio del Brenta with its weeping willows
Photo 8: The amazed Purple Heron
From here the route is a succession of villas overlooking the river and others in lateral branches, with well-kept gardens where weeping willows lap the water with their leaves. Swans and ducks accompany the navigation of the Burchiello and some herons look amazed at the tourists who photograph them in bursts.
Photo 9: Villa Pisani with the huge swimming pool
Photo 10: Villa Pisani
Photo 11: The ballroom of Villa Pisani
We are in Stra and Burchiello stops at the National Museum of Villa Pisani, a royal residence, which has seen Doges, Kings, Tsars and Emperors stay or live within these walls. Here in 1934 the first meeting between the two dictators who brought so much destruction to the world, Hitler and Mussolini, took place. More than 100 rooms full of works of art which find their apex in the fabulous ballroom with a ceiling painted by Tiepolo. It was bought by Napoleon Bonaparte and among others we also find the room and bed that belonged to the French emperor. The fairy-tale garden with the labyrinth and the huge tub which however is of more recent construction and was used for hydraulic experiments in the early 1900s, with the stables in the background, the glance is impressive.
Photo 12: The ceiling of the ballroom of Villa Pisani painted by Tiepolo
Photo 13: The ceiling of the ballroom of Villa Pisani painted by Tiepolo
Photo 14: Room and bed of Napoleon Bonaparte
Photo 15: Study with billiards at Villa Pisani
We leave Villa Pisani and after a short lunch we head towards Villa Widmann. Built at the beginning of the 18th century, it is a real country house where one can imagine a noble family staying. Much smaller in size than the pharaonic Villa Pisani. A relatively small ballroom with a very precious Murano glass chandelier, frescoes on the walls and ceilings with a mythological theme amidst Baroque and Rococo style decorations. Some interesting bits in the carriage museum, but off by boat it’s late and there’s still plenty to see.
Photo 16: navigating the Naviglio between one lock and another
Photo 17: Swing bridge
Photo 18: Murano glass chandelier at Villa Widmann
The navigation is a succession of villas with the facade facing the water, some inhabited, others abandoned. In fact, the multilingual guide keeps repeating that if someone has little money to spend, many are for sale, unfortunately this is not our case!
Photo 19: Villa Widmann
Photo 20: The ceiling of the ballroom of Villa Widmann
Photo 21: the garden of Villa Widmann
I refer you to the second part that I will write in the next few days.
@DeniGu @ErmesT @davidhyno @PattyBlack @TravellerG @Erna_LaBeau @Mukul_Anand @renata1 @Stephanie_OWL
In attesa di leggere la seconda parte ti arriva un abbraccio da Como 
