Asolo, Italy: Town of 100 Horizons

 

I am finally back at my computer and will update my blog over the next week from the past 15 days or so traveling to different areas of Italy.

 

To begin my August travels, I visited Asolo  again as I had only driven through when I first arrived in Italy. It is one of my very favorite places in Italy and I wanted 3 days to explore it fully.  

My sister and I once stayed in the villa where Robert Browning lived for a time.  I circled our room.  It is now owned by the Cipriani hotel group.  On this trip, I stayed at the well-known Albergo Al Sole (pink building) perched just above the main square.  I enjoyed watching the variety of people who visited the town's main coffee shop area with the awning and large terrace each day.  Asolo is on a series of very high hills.....also saw a large number of cyclists who rode up the mountain and down the other side at all hours of the day.

Asolo is the former home of Freya Stark, Eleonora Duse, Robert and Pen Browning and many expats from Britain and the U.S.  A really charming place.  I visited the nearby town where Canova was born and his sculpture museum, Villa Maser and the excellent museum in Asolo.  I read biographies of Freya Stark and Eleonora Duse while there.  I did feel more like an oddity, eating by myself in this smaller town, but since I had a rental car, I enjoyed the nearby areas as well. 

Asolo is where Catherine Cornaro lived during her later years.  

She was a daughter of a noble family in Venice and was married off to James II, the King of Cyprus in 1468 when she was just 14 as a way for Venice to have more control over that important island.

James died from a sudden illness shortly thereafter.  She was pregnant and had a infant son, who died mysteriously before his 1^st birthday.  She ruled Cyprus for 15 years and was forced to abdicate in 1489 and sell the administration of the county to the Republic of Venice. 

Venice persuaded her to cede her rights as ruler but retained her title of Queen and was made Lady of Asolo. She lived in a castle that dated back to the 10th century with a full court of subjects. Today the clock tower is visible from all over town.

It is interesting that the theater (a former audience hall) in the castle was bought to Sarasota, Florida in the early 1950’s and restored in 2006.  The historic Asolo Theatre is one of the highlights of the Ringling collection in Sarasota. 

I wish I could share all of the photos of this area.  Too soon, it was time for me to leave, turn in my car at the airport and head on the train to Faenza, a ceramic town near Bologna.  This is where a major problem for me occurred ......