ROVIGO - Water, earth, rock, wind and the skilled hands of men and women have designed and created the beauty of 9 material sites, two biosphere reserves and an intangible site, which Unesco protects in Veneto as a World Heritage Site.
To discover them we start from Rovigo, from the Po Delta, MAB Unesco Biosphere Reserve, the largest wetland in Italy.
It is a protected area to be discovered slowly among thick reeds, fossil dunes, expanses of glasswort, fishing valleys, largely accessible stalls and a gastronomy rich in flavors.
It is a birdwatching paradise with over 390 species of birds and, in the many sea and river branches, of aquatic species, some of which are unique.
The Reserve organizes 2-hour guided tours starting from Rosolina Mare and entering a circular route on the Caleri peninsula.
From the panoramic terrace of the botanical garden of Porto Caleri you have a suggestive view of the lagoon.
Adria is the most interesting center but about ten kilometers from Rovigo, Villa Badoer in Fratta Polesine is worth a visit, a country building built by Palladio in 1556 and with an interesting archaeological museum in one of the barchesse.
The journey continues to Padua to discover the site "The frescoed cycles of the fourteenth century", a museum spread over 8 places;
each of them deserves an in-depth visit but if you have little time available, you should see the frescoes by Giotto in the Scrovegni Chapel (the ticket must be booked in advance) and in the Palazzo della Ragione, an ancient court and covered market.
Also suggestive is the Botanical Garden, the oldest in the world, founded in 1545 as a place for scientific research and cultural exchange.
In 2014 the Garden inaugurated the Biodiversity Garden: 5 greenhouses with low environmental impact that welcome 1,300 species and offer an educational journey between botany and anthropology.
The journey continues to Vicenza, where we visit the historic center with 23 World Heritage monuments including the Olympic Theater, the oldest indoor structure in the world, and the famous Palladian villas.
Among the latter, La Rotonda, which can be visited on weekends, from April to October, is the most famous building: designed in 1567, it has a symmetrical square structure that can be inscribed in a perfect circle.
The next stop is Monte Grappa, MAB Unesco Biosphere Reserve, a rich historical and cultural heritage and a pilgrimage destination to the military shrine, inaugurated in 1935. It is one of the largest cemeteries of the First World War and preserves, at 1,775 meters above sea level, the mortal remains of 23,000 Italian and Austro-Hungarian soldiers.
Suggestive are the visits to the tomb of the soldier Peter Pan, shrouded in legends and mysteries, and to the Vittorio Emanuele II gallery, an underground military fortification a kilometer and a half long with observatories and machine gun posts.
Moving to the Treviso area, you enter the Prosecco hills, a World Heritage Site as a cultural landscape, where the work of the winemakers has created a unique setting in a territory of nature and art that stretches from Valdobbiadene to Conegliano through villages dedicated to viticulture.
The green hills, dotted with farmhouses, are covered with vineyards that produce Conegliano-Valdobbiadene Prosecco Superiore Docg and host 15 municipalities, numerous museums, historic villas and thematic and food and wine itineraries.
The beauty of the hills is their morphological uniqueness and the presence of grassy edges instead of walls to stem the steep slope of the land.
The journey continues towards Venice and its Lagoon, included in the World Heritage Site for "the uniqueness and singularity of its historical, archaeological, urban, architectural, artistic and cultural heritage, integrated into an equally extraordinary landscape".
Unesco also protects 8 municipalities on the coast and 118 lagoon islands: in these territories ancient crafts and native foods survive, such as the Dorona grape and the violet artichoke, a Slow Food presidium.
Among the most interesting islands to discover are the Lido with its long sandy coastline and Liberty buildings;
Torcello with the frescoed basilica and the ascent to the bell tower to admire the lagoon from above;
San Servolo with its widespread hotel;
the small island of San Francesco del Deserto rich in history and spirituality,
inhabited by the friars since 1.230.
And, again, Mazzorbo where Tenuta Scarpa Volo has recovered an ancient vineyard attached to a monastery;
Burano, characterized by the thousand colors of its houses, the crooked bell tower and the lace workshops;
Sant'Erasmo, the largest island, where you can taste the "Orto" wine produced from native vines;
and La Certosa, a former military depot recovered from abandonment with a sustainable renovation.
Murano is the island where you can discover the Unesco intangible site of the art of creating glass beads: it is an ancient practice, linked to the mastery of the grinder who shapes the beads from a perforated glass rod, the impiraressa who threads the beads and by the master glassmaker who makes the rosette barrel drilled and pulled by hand.
It is from Belluno that you travel to discover the Unesco site of the Dolomites, a heritage of beauty and value, recognized all over the world, as well as the spectacular phenomenon of "enrosadira", for which at sunset the Dolomite peaks light up with shades that they range from pink to deep red.
The journey continues towards Verona, a city of culture and art, a World Heritage Site, where you walk among Roman remains and churches, palaces and historical monuments such as the Arena and Juliet's balcony.
Outside the city, less than 30 kilometers away, you reach Peschiera del Garda, a fortress city in the shape of a pentagon, militarily strategic to defend the Serenissima.
Here in the sixteenth century its walls were consolidated, still splendidly preserved today and which are part of the defensive system of Venice, protected by Unesco.
Just outside, between Belvedere and Frassino, you can admire 2 of the 111 pile-dwelling settlements in the Alps, which have become part of the World Heritage Site: they are prehistoric underwater sites that have preserved tools and artefacts of extraordinary scientific interest for the study of ancient peasant societies.
For information: veneto.eu