Monselice - Monselice

Monselice is a city of Veneto.

To know

At the foot of the Euganean Hills, it is dominated by the Castle from the top of the hill on which the Via del Santuario also climbs which then continues with the Via delle Sette Chiese up to the church of San Giorgio from which you can enjoy a beautiful view of the city and of its plain.

Geographical notes

In the fertile Veneto plain, the city has developed in addition to agriculture a solid artisan and industrial economy, favored by its position at the center of major traffic routes. It is 8 km from Este, 20 from Rovigo, 24 km from Montagnana, 27 from Padua, 36 from Fratta Polesine, 50 from Chioggia.

Background

The meaning of "Monselice" could (perhaps) derive from mons silicis, in relation to the extraction of the stone from the hill around which the town stretches, or from Msgr elicis (monte delle flint), from a species present on the same hill, or mount of flint due to the flint quarries on the surrounding hills

The first settlements in the area are very old. Numerous archaeological finds also attest to the presence of at least one prehistoric station which developed between the Iron Age and the Bronze Age. The fortunate central position at the intersection of important roads and waterways favored a fairly early settlement. The birth of Monselice as a city center dates back to the V-VI century and is due to an initial fortification of the Rocca hill by the Byzantines, a fortification that is important in terms of defensive strategy. The existing structures were further strengthened after the invasion of the Franks, and consisted, around the year 1000, of a discontinuous inhabited fabric on the slopes of the Rocca and a defensive nucleus guarding the bridge over the ancient Vigenzone river, which passed to the foot of the hill.

The city is mentioned by Paolo Diacono in his Historia Langobardorum as one of the few cities of Venetia (together with Padua is Mantua) not to be occupied by Alboin between the summer and autumn of 569. Surely there was a Byzantine garrison in the city. Padua in 601, Monselice was also conquered in 602 by the Longobards of Agilulfo.

In the 11th century an increase in the local population favors new residential settlements and in the mid-12th century Monselice is elevated to the rank of Municipality, entering in the 13th century under the jurisdiction of Ezzelino da Romano. The latter, vicar in the Venetian land of the German emperor Frederick II, expands and perfects the wall system, which completely closes the inhabited center. Ezzelino is also responsible for the restructuring of the Keep on the top of the Rocca, the construction of the civic tower and the construction of the Palace today called precisely by Ezzelino, which is an important part of the Castle of Monselice.

At the beginning of the 14th century the city was at the center of a bitter military dispute between the imperial vicar Cangrande della Scala, lord of Verona, and the lordship of the Carraresi of Padua. In 1327 the Carraresi took possession of Monselice definitively and made it the defensive outpost of Padua to the south. In this strategy, the layout of the Ezzelino walls is expanded and further fortified, which in the second half of the fourteenth century took on their final configuration: an external circle equipped with towers and monumental access doors and four internal circles, which date back to the Rocca. up to the tower on the summit.

But the moment of maximum defensive capacity of the city coincides with the incorporation, which took place in 1405, of Monselice in the territory of the Republic of Venice, whose vocation was more directed both to traffic and commerce, than to military practice. The city thus gradually began to lose its defensive function and began to become a center of residence and vacation for the noble Venetian families. Between the 15th and 16th centuries Renaissance elements are grafted onto the medieval urban structure. The Venetian noble families buy large landholdings in the center and in the surrounding countryside. The Marcello family takes ownership of the Ezzelino palace and extends and enriches the construction; the Duodo family settles on the south side of the Rocca and creates splendid architectures that have arrived intact to the present day; the Nani family builds the villa of the same name. The urban center is enriched with Baroque elements with the construction of the Loggia del Monte di Pietà, the renovation of the church of San Paolo, the Fezzi and Branchini palaces; other Venetian families build their villas just outside the city gates and they also continue to settle in the surrounding countryside.

The nineteenth century sees the city of Monselice facing the modern era. In the nineteenth-century logic, the walls and towers of the medieval fortified city are considered an obstacle to urban expansion; in the middle of the century, part of the external perimeter of the walls and the monumental access gates of the city were demolished. In the eyes of today's visitors, however, there is ample evidence of the medieval city such as the Civic Tower, good sections of walls and above all the monumental Castle complex, and the building heritage of the Venetian period is mainly intact.

How to orient yourself

Neighborhoods

In the city the districts are distinguished: Centro, Montericco, Carmine, San Martino, Costa Calcinara, Marco Polo, San Giacomo (or Frati).

In addition to the urban center, the municipal area also includes the hamlets of Ca 'Oddo, Marendole, Monticelli, San Bortolo and San Cosma.

How to get

By plane

• 45.39666710.8877781 Verona Airport (Catullus), Boxes of Sommacampagna, ☎ 39 045 8095666, @[email protected]. 
• 45.65321612.2019952 Treviso Airport (Canova), via Noalese 63 / E. 
• 45.506312.34123 Venice airport (Marco Polo), ☎ 39 041 2606111. 

By car

• It has a motorway exit right on the A13 motorway Bologna - Padua
• It is the cornerstone of the former state road 10 Lower PadanaTurin - Monselice which also crosses the cities of Asti, Alexandria, Tortona, Piacenza, Cremona, Mantua.
• It is crossed by the former state road 16 AdriaticPadua - Adriatic coast up to the whole Puglia.
• It is the cornerstone of the provincial road 6 Este - Monselice.

On the train

• It has its own railway station, via Trento and Trieste 60. on the line Padua-Bologna, and is the terminus of the line for Mantua. 

By bus

It has its own bus station FS BusItalia part of the Padua suburban service. The main lines are along the main lines Padua-Rovigo is Padua-Montagnana. The station is also the terminus for connections with neighboring countries and with United Hospitals Padua South Mother Teresa of Calcutta.

How to get around

The best way to visit the historic center is to walk. Even arriving by train or bus, the historic center can be reached on foot in a few minutes. For tourists it is possible to have all the information at theTouristic office.

What see

• 45.2418211.752721 Castle. from March to November. The Castle of Monselice is a complex of buildings consisting of four main nuclei, built and renovated between the eleventh and sixteenth centuries. The oldest part, on the right as you enter the main door into the Corte Grande, is the Castelletto, with the annex Romanesque house, built between the 11th and 12th centuries. On the left stands the massive outline of the Tower of Ezzelino, from the 13th century. In the center, as a nucleus of connection between the two existing buildings, the Marcello Palace.

Finally, the Library of the Castle, which stands on the wide esplanade in front of the Ezzelino Tower, obtained from a pre-existing building at the end of the sixteenth century. The tower was built by Ezzelino da Romano in the thirteenth century, as part of a military-defensive strengthening of the second circle of walls of the city. At the beginning of the 14th century, when the city was conquered by the Carraresi, the large rooms of the Ezzelino palace were divided into smaller rooms, partially used as civil dwellings.

During the fourteenth century the Carraresi also re-used the oldest part of the complex, creating a large Council room and built three characteristic and monumental Venetian fireplaces inside the castle, which we can still admire today.

After the conquest of Monselice by the Venetian Republic, in the 15th century, the Castle passed into ownership to the noble Marcello family who completed its transformation into a civil residence, building the connecting building between the Ezzelino tower and the Romanesque part. In this beautiful Gothic-style building, extended to the intermediate floor of the tower, the Marcellos obtained their private residence. The definitive configuration of the Castle, as we see it today, is already almost complete at the end of the fifteenth century: only the library, from the late sixteenth century, the arrangement of the internal Venetian courtyard and the private chapel of the family built in the eighteenth century are missing.

In the early nineteenth century the ownership of the Castle passed from the Marcellos to other families of the local aristocracy and began a slow and unstoppable deterioration of the whole complex, with the stripping of furniture and objects of the interior decoration. At the end of the century the property passed to the Girardi counts, from which it came to the Cini family by inheritance. During the First World War the Castle was requisitioned for military purposes by the Royal Italian Army, which left it completely devastated in 1919.

It is Count Vittorio Cini who begins to think, in the 1930s, of a radical restoration and restoration of the whole complex. The idea took shape in 1935 and the gigantic work ended in 1942. The guiding idea of ​​this extraordinary restoration was not to create a historical museum but to ideally take the guest or visitor on a journey back in time. . In fact, everything is in its place in the individual rooms: tables, chairs, paintings, beds, ornaments, kitchen tools, in a magical atmosphere, as if by magic the ancient inhabitants of these places had to reappear, from the Middle Ages to the Renaissance, to take possession of them again. and relive the heroic or daily deeds of their eras. Since 1981 the complex has been owned by the Veneto Region and is open to the public from March to November. 

• 45.2402111.754872 Parish church of Santa Giustina (Old Cathedral). La Pieve, or old cathedral, is a late Romanesque construction, which probably dates back to 1256. In front of the portal the cathedral has a small pointed arch loggia. Inside there are paintings from the Venetian school, probably from the 15th century. In 1361 at the parish church of Santa Giustina Francesco Petrarca received a canon's benefit. 
• Villa Duodo. Located halfway up the Colle della Rocca, its design is attributed to Vincenzo Scamozzi, although some more recent parts have been reworked by Andrea Tirali. Commissioned by the noble Venetian family, Duodo was built on the foundations of an older castle known as San Giorgio. On the right, the oldest wing dates back to 1593 and is the work of the architect Vincenzo Scamozzi. The front, added in 1740, is the most recent. To the left of the complex is the exedra dedicated to St. Francis Xavier, a large stone staircase from the 1600s. The villa, which can only be visited externally, is preceded by the path of the Seven Churches. 
• 45.240811.7573 Sanctuary of the Seven Churches. It was conceived and built by Vincenzo Scamozzi on commission of the Venetian nobles Duodo between 1605 and 1615. In that same period the Duodos had six chapels built along the slope of the hill, obtaining from Pope Paul V the concession of the same indulgences granted to pilgrims who went on pilgrimage to the seven major basilicas in Rome. The entrance arch to the sacred area of ​​the Jubilee Sanctuary of the Seven Churches, built in 1651, is called the "Porta Romana" or "Porta Santa" where the inscription Romanis basilicis pares recalls the connection with the pilgrimage to the Roman basilicas. The six chapels house five valuable altarpieces by Jacopo Palma the Younger while in the one co-titled to Saints Peter and Paul, there is an altarpiece attributed to the Bavarian painter Giovanni Carlo Loth. 

• 45.2408911.758274 Oratory of San Giorgio (Sanctuary of the Saints) (the Seventh Church). The sanctuary of San Giorgio, called dei Santi, is the arrival point of the sacred way. In 1651 the bodies of three martyrs and numerous relics were transferred from Rome. The interior, frescoed by Tommaso Sandrini, is also embellished by a very valuable altar frontal in marble inlay and semi-precious stones that came from the mastery of the Corberelli workshop. The church is the destination of thousands of visitors and devotees for the feast of St. Valentine which is celebrated on February 14, during which a priest gives the blessing to children and adults and gives them a "golden key". 

• San Paolo City Museum. The Monumental complex of San Paolo it is located in the former Church of San Paolo, of which it is possible to admire the many building phases. In addition, the recent restoration at the City Museum that allows the visitor to discover the history of the city of Monselice from prehistoric times to the present day.
• 45.239511.757875 Church of San Martino. 
• Church of San Tommaso. 
• Church of the Carmine. 
• Church of San Giacomo. 
• 45.2403711.753316 Church of Santo Stefano. 
• Keep Federiciano (the fortress). At the top of the hill are the remains of the imposing keep, the Torrione, built by the Emperor Frederick II of Swabia in the first half of the 13th century. With a truncated pyramidal base, the defensive structure was organized on several levels. 
• Civic tower. 
• Palazzo and Loggetta del Monte di Pietà. Building of the fifteenth century, it housed the Monte di Pietà in the Venetian era. In the 17th century the Loggia was added, with Doric columns and an articulated staircase with balustrades. Today it is the seat of the Tourist Reception Office. 
• Villa Contarini. Rising along the Bisatto canal, the villa is mentioned in documents as early as 1581. The interior decorated with valuable eighteenth-century stuccos reflects the typical layout of Venetian villas. It preserves ancient and remarkable chandeliers in polychrome Murano glass. It is currently a Pizzeria. 
• Villa Emo. Probably based on a project by the architect Vincenzo Scamozzi towards the end of the 16th century, the villa was initially owned by the Contarini family, then passed to the Maldura and finally to the Emo Capodilista. 
• Villa Pisani. The villa was built around the middle of the sixteenth century on behalf of Francesco Pisani and is attributed to the Paduan Andrea da Valle (previously it had been attributed to Andrea Palladio, who at that time was engaged in the construction of the Villa Pisani in Montagnana. The presence of da Valle is documented in Monselice around 1559 due to work on the convent of San Giacomo. Inside it preserves valuable frescoes attributed to Zelotti. The building, used as a venue for cultural events, houses the Roman lapidary from Monselice. 
• 45.2409111.753617 Villa Nani-Mocenigo. Villa Nani Mocenigo was built by the Venetian patrician Agostino Nani towards the end of the 15th century and was enlarged during the following century. It is a massive building with a large terraced staircase and numerous statues leading to the Palladian school nymphaeum. The surrounding walls are surmounted by statues of dwarves, a clear allusion to the family name. The portal of the villa also bears an inscription in Latin: Emeritam hic suspende togam. This refers to the jurisdictional functions performed by a member of the Nani family in Venice. Its purpose was to remind everyone that these functions were suspended during their stays in Monselice, as the building was used by the family exclusively as a holiday residence. 

• 45.2386211.749968 New Cathedral (panettone). Dedicated to S. Giuseppe Operaio, the New cathedral it replaced the church of Santa Giustina sulla Rocca.

The imposing building is modern, with a central plan and a Latin cross in the center of which rises a square spire with a 37 m high pinnacle. with a diameter of 20 meters; the length of the cross is m. 61.50; the width of the two arms m. 35. A succession of vertical stained glass windows strikes the eye. Under the church there is the crypt as large as the whole building. The new cathedral it was built between the fifties and sixties of the twentieth century and is stylistically distinct from the urban typology of the city. To tell the truth, the church never seems to have aroused approval among the monselicensi, who have nicknamed it panettone. 

Events and parties

• ETNOFILMfest. In June.. Exhibition of ethnographic documentary cinema which is proposed as a place of meeting and comparison that reflects on aspects and manifestations of cultures and human behaviors. The festival is organized by the Ethnodrama Study Center. 
• Carousel of the Rocca. Over the next three weeks in September. The Giostra della Rocca is a palio organized every year during which the various hamlets and districts of the Municipality compete in competitions such as: archery, chess tournament (final competition with "living" chess) which determines the positions during the parades, tournament of musicians (drummers and trumpets), flag-wavers, race of the millstones, relay, parade of the nine districts (which reflect some districts of Monselice and its hamlets) with period clothes and precision equestrian carousel (quintana) where the knight with lance must pierce three rings of different diameters in the shortest possible time.

The event takes place as follows: On the first Sunday of September, medieval markets are organized in the streets of the center, where each district offers artisanal products, food and wine. On the afternoon of the second Sunday, the various competitions take place: race of the millstones, archers and relay. In the following week, usually on Thursday, the Tenzone takes place between the musical groups of the various districts. Finally, on the third Sunday of the month, the "Gara della Quintana" takes place, preceded in the morning by the historical procession, where all the districts parade through the streets of the center with clothes, armor, tools and anything else inherent to the medieval era. In case of bad weather, the event is postponed to the following Sunday. 

• Rugby League tournament. Every year a Rugby League tournament is organized, the Veneto 9s, in which various national teams from all over the world participate. 
• Monselice Prize. Each year the important national prize Premio Monselice is awarded "to enhance the activity of translation as a particularly important form of cultural communication between peoples". Among the sections of the prize: the prize for translation, won, for example, by Fernanda Pivano or Augusto Frassineti; the Diego Valeri International Award; the prize for scientific translation; the Leone Traverso award for first work and the Vittorio Zambon award. 

What to do

Shopping

How to have fun

Where to eat

Average prices

• 45.23975611.763271 Osteria trattoria La Campana, Via C. Calcinara, 49, ☎ 39 0429 72888, @[email protected]. 
• 45.22289611.741772 Trattoria Al Capiteo, Via Ca'Oddo, 20 / a, ☎ 39 0429 72750, @[email protected]. 
• 45.2208411.7554133 Al Grillo pizza restaurant, Via Rovigana, 27, ☎ 39 0429 73465, @[email protected]. 
• 45.24181511.7497674 Campiello pizza restaurant, Via R. Belzoni, 2, ☎ 39 0429 73323, @[email protected]. 
• 45.23848111.7513215 China Town Chinese restaurant, Via Cadorna, 24, ☎ 39 0429 74097. 
• 45.2412811.7604896 Circonvallazione Trattoria, Via Galilei, 8, ☎ 39 0429 72119. 
• 45.27585411.758617 Trattoria Da Mario, Via Monticelli, 11, ☎ 39 0429 73402. 
• 45.25119211.7502698 Trattoria Da Paolo, Via Solana, 14, ☎ 39 0429 72586. 
• 45.23376111.7480749 La Parentesi pizza restaurant, Via Vo 'de Buffi, 26, ☎ 39 0429 72041, @[email protected]. 
• 45.2394511.76653810 La Rocca restaurant and pizzeria, Via Costa Calcinara, 91, ☎ 39 0429 72794. 
• 45.24163211.75075511 La Torre Restaurant, Piazza Mazzini, 14, ☎ 39 0429 73752, fax: 39 0429 783643, @[email protected]. 
• 45.22993411.74370212 Osteria cicchetteria da Giovanni, Via Cristoforo Colombo, 65, ☎ 39 0429 784530. 
• 45.24009111.74828313 Villa Contarini pizza restaurant, Via Verdi, 4, ☎ 39 0429 72291, @[email protected]. 

Where stay

Moderate prices

• 45.23953311.7551821 Venetian Hostel, Via Santo Stefano, 33 (Hostel in Palazzo Tassello), ☎ 39 0429 783125, fax: 39 0429 783125, @[email protected]. 

Average prices

• 45.23894611.761392 Blue Dream Hotel, via Orti, 7, ☎ 39 0429 783111, fax: 39 0429 783100, @[email protected]. 
• 45.24229311.7495563 Cavallino hotel, Via Petrarca, 2, ☎ 39 0429 72242, fax: 39 0429 72242, @[email protected]. 
• 45.2434911.745264 ^{[link not working]}La Selce Hotel, Via Sottomonte, 1, ☎ 39 0429 782580, fax: 39 0429 782580, @[email protected]. 

Safety

Pharmacies

• Blessed Virgin of Health, Via Roma, 6, ☎ 39 0429 72221. 
• Gasparetto, Piazza Giuseppe Mazzini, 25, ☎ 39 0429 72101. 
• Curly, Via Giuseppe Garibaldi, 108, ☎ 39 0429 74400. 
• S. Martino, Via Costa Calcinara, 80, ☎ 39 0429-783120. 

How to keep in touch

Post office

• 45.241311.75044 Italian post, Via Giacomo Zanellato 10, ☎ 39 0429 786511, fax: 39 0429 700580. 

Around

• Padua
• Abano Terme
• Fratta Polesine
• Este - Cradle of the Este family, it preserves the Carraresi castle with its fortifications. It maintains a noble aspect given to it by the seventeenth-eighteenth-century palaces that the Venetian nobility built there.
• Montagnana - Walled city, it preserves intact the quadrilateral of walls and the crenellated towers. It has a suggestive historic center that has earned it its entry into the ranks of the most beautiful villages in Italy.
• Chioggia - City built on a group of islands in the Venetian Lagoon, has atmospheres, urban planning, profoundly Venetian glimpses, while maintaining its own individuality and its peculiarity character made immortal by Goldoni in the Chiozzotte quarrels

Itineraries

• Walled cities of Veneto. An itinerary to discover the strongholds and the history of Veneto.
• Rice road - The itinerary - to be carried out in particular from May to September - runs through the Mantua area dedicated to the cultivation of rice, between rivers and canals.
• Cycling ring of the Euganean Hills - 64 km itinerary in the Euganean Hills Regional Park.

Other projects

• Wikipedia contains an entry concerning Monselice
• Commons contains images or other files on Monselice

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