This is the birthplace of some of the most significant stories of eighteenth-century European music, such as Antonio Vivaldi, Tomaso Albinoni, Francesco Maria Piave and Lorenzo da Ponte. Classical music and opera still find a home every season in the prestigious Veneto theatres. But it is the Arena di Verona that every summer is transformed into the largest open-air theatre in the world, with an audience of over 13,000 people ready to welcome one of the world’s most important opera festivals.

From opera to experimentation, from symphonic concerts to beautiful prose, Veneto's theatres are living laboratories of culture and spectacle.
At La Fenice in Venice, a temple of opera and an international point of reference for opera productions, each season brings classic masterpieces and new compositions with a European feel to the stage. In Vicenza, the Teatro Olimpico hosts immortal shows and visionary projects, taking advantage of the timeless charm of its Palladian architecture, while in Padua, the billboards of the Teatro Verdi show a mix of classic dramas, contemporary pieces and family-friendly shows. The Teatro Sociale in Rovigo preserves a strong operatic identity, with a loyal audience and a calendar of both traditional titles and new arrivals. In Treviso, the Mario Del Monaco Municipal Theatre also stands out with its varied offer that combines music with entertainment, with particular opportunities for young performers.

You don't need velvet and chandeliers to experience the magic of the theatre; in Veneto, the show often leaves the conventional stage to meet its audience in surprising places.
In the Euganean Hills, the Venda Amphitheatre is an outdoor setting in the woods, where music and words resound at sunset. In the Belluno Dolomites, events such as the Cadore Dolomiti Music Festival and the Dolomiti Arena - Slow Mountain Music Festival bring music to refuges, meadows and hiking trails, with the public sitting on the grass of the most beautiful natural terraces of Cortina, Cadore and Valbelluna.

There are some squares that are not content with merely setting the stage – they actually become the show!
In Marostica, every two years, the famous Human Chess Match transforms the stone chessboard in the historic centre into a unique theatrical set, featuring period costumes, extras and choreography under the stars. In Venice, Piazza San Marco becomes an exceptional setting for the symphonic shows of La Fenice, street performances during the Carnival and concerts featuring some of the brightest international music stars.

In Bolca, in the heart of Lessinia, you can visit one of the most famous fossil sites in the world. The Fossil Museum houses perfectly preserved fish, plants and insects, while a guide can take you to the Pesciara, a quarry where excavations are still ongoing today.

In Padua, the Museum of Nature and Man offers a multimedia tour of rocks, fossils, minerals and ancient finds, from the fossil palm room to the dolphins of Belluno to the famous sabre-toothed tiger.

Sites and museums not to be missed:

• ‘Giancarlo Ligabue’ Natural History Museum of Venice
• ‘Earth and Man’ Civic Museum of Natural History in Crocetta del Montello
• Natural History Museum of Verona
• ‘G. Zannato’ Museum of Archaeology and Natural Sciences in Montecchio Maggiore
• ‘Vittorino Cazzetta’ Museum in Selva di Cadore
• ‘Rinaldo Zardini’ Paleontological Museum in Cortina d'Ampezzo
• Museum of Natural History and Archaeology of Montebelluna
• Paleontological and Prehistoric Museum of Sant'Anna d'Alfaedo
• Geopaleontological Museum of Cava Bomba in Cinto Euganeo
• ‘Renato Gasparella’ Priabonian Paleontological Museum
• ‘Patrizio Rigoni’ Natural History Museum in Asiago 
• Montebelluna Museum of Natural History and Archaeology

The Euganean Hills are home to the words of the Father of Humanism: the Francesco Petrarca Literary Park follows in the footsteps of the poet, who chose to spend his final years in Arquà, among cypresses and Latin verses. But this is no solitary pilgrimage: from Shelley to Byron, from Foscolo to Goethe, these hills have always attracted restless minds and deep perspectives. The itinerary travels past refuges, gardens, villages and churches, painting a literary landscape that escapes the postcard and is rooted in memory.

Vast, intricate, wonderful delta.

These are the words of Emilio Salgari in The Mystery of the Black Jungle, one of the fantasy novels featuring Sandokan, the Tiger of Malaysia. While it is now common knowledge that the writer never actually visited the places where he set his novels, few know that his inspiration for the Ganges Delta was the island of Boschetto, a stretch of the Adige river south of Verona, which at the time was a wild and forested area.

A postcard from the gods.

Born and raised among the Prosecco Hills of Conegliano and Valdobbiadene, the poet Andrea Zanzotto dedicates these grand words to them. Zanzotto's poetry lives on in the area where he was born and spent his life, the gentle and colourful landscape of the Marca Gioiosa et Amorosa [Joyous and Amorous March], a name for the Province of Treviso that dates from the Middle Ages but remains just as valid today in an area famous for its carefree life and excellent wine.

A more serious and austere voice comes from Dino Buzzati, a virtual echo of the mountains where he was born and which he never forgot: the Belluno Dolomites. He was one of the greatest writers of the twentieth century and rereading his works takes us on a timeless journey, where the thrilling mountain landscapes are the protagonists of worlds where man is merely a participant. He even dedicated the piece L’amico Schiara to Schiara, the mountain he could see from the balcony of his house. But the roots of the literary itinerary dedicated to his final work, The Miracles of Val Morel lie among the solitary and mysterious landscapes of Valmorel, in the municipality of Libana.

Mario Rigoni Stern, on the other hand, tells the story of the Asiago Plateau of the 7 Municipalities: in his novels the stars are the forests, animals and mountains where he was born, became a man and left as a soldier. In the preface to his most famous novel, The Sergeant in the Snow, he recalls the trees of Villa Zecchin:

[...] tired of playing, we lay down at the feet of the Four Larches and read adventure books aloud; each of us was a character: the Green Corsair, Brave Eagle, Sandokan, Kim, the Captain. At sunset we all climbed to the tops of the trees – everyone had their own – and, from up there, we silently watched the sky where fantastic red clouds roamed.

It seems customary for Venetian writers to take inspiration from their landscape to tell universal stories of places, people and feelings. But even world-renowned artists have set their adventures in these territories. Think of Ernest Hemingway who, in his Across the River and Into the Trees, tells of the Eastern Veneto, the valleys, pine forests and lagoons of Bibione and Caorle.

In the Venetian Lagoon, craftsmanship is an integral part of the landscape and cultural identity, a heritage that is not limited to survival but flourishes among workshops, museums and stories that still flow on the water.
In Murano, furnaces transform glass into art, with the colours and transparencies that have made the island famous throughout the world; observing a master glassmaker at work is an experience that mixes skill, fire and creativity, to be explored in depth at the Glass Museum. In Burano, among the brightly coloured houses, the lace makers continue to weave ultrafine threads with "stitch in the air" needlepoint, an ancient technique that dressed the European courts, as revealed at the Lace Museum.
In the heart of Venice, the artisan mask shops bring the spirit of Carnival to life: these unique objects, moulded in papier-mâché and decorated with gold leaves and feathers, can be discovered in the historic shops. And then there is the lesser-known but equally fascinating art of traditional shipbuilding: in the squeri, small shipyards along the canals, gondolas and other typical boats are built and restored; the oldest, the Squero di San Trovaso, offers a privileged look at a craft that continues to define the soul of the city. 

From Bassano del Grappa to Nove, ceramics have been a family tradition for centuries: decorated dishes, coloured jugs and terracotta figures are still produced today in workshops that can be visited. The Museo Civico della Ceramica di Nove collects historical and contemporary works, while many shops offer workshops where you can try to shape and decorate items with your own hands.

Vicenza is the Italian capital of goldsmithing: since the Middle Ages, precious metals have been worked here with a skill that has made the city famous worldwide. Today, the Jewellery Museum, housed in the Palladian Basilica, tells this story through thematic collections, while goldsmith shops in the historic centre offer direct contact with the artisans and an opportunity to buy unique pieces.

On the Brenta Riviera, footwear is an art that steps out with high fashion: the Museum of Footwear of Villa Foscarini Rossi in Stra narrates this tradition with unique models created for Dior, Yves Saint Laurent and Fendi. In Montebelluna, the heart of sports footwear, the Museo dello Scarpone traces the history of a district that revolutionised mountain boots and technical shoes for athletes. With workshops and companies open to the public, design is here at your fingertips.

With historic shops and contemporary design, wood represents one of the authentic elements of Veneto. In Vicenza, the heart of the artisan tradition, carved, polished and hand-gilt furniture is still created, recognisable in the quality brands of Mobile del Bassanese and Mobile d'Arte. In the Verona plain, on the other hand, carpenters and designers transform tradition into refined furnishings, protagonists of trade fairs and exhibitions. Finally, in the Belluno Dolomites, wood becomes sculpture: maskmakers and artisans carve traditional figures and unique objects, protagonists of exhibitions and local festivals.

Some of the places not to be missed include Altino, a crossroads between land and lagoon and the cradle of the future Venice; Adria and Este, with their national archaeological museums that tell the story of the Etruscan and Venetic civilisations; Padua, with excavations in the historic centre; Verona, where the Arena is only the most visible part of an underground Roman city; Oderzo, where ancient history relives among the streets of the city and precious archaeological finds and Feltre, Montegrotto Terme, Concordia Sagittaria and Vicenza, where the past emerges under the stones of the cities.

A particularly evocative route is the Via Annia, the ancient Roman road that connected Adria to Aquileia crossing the plain and the lagoon; today, starting from Concordia Sagittaria and arriving in Polesine, you can retrace the route past archaeological remains, museums and stunning landscapes.

Are you interested in Venetian archaeology? Would you like to know more? Discover the official ArcheoVeneto.it portal.

And archaeology in Veneto is not just ancient history! Alongside our rivers and canals and in the heart of our urban centres there are still traces of an industrial past that marked both the landscape and society between the nineteenth and twentieth centuries.

In Schio, the textile industry has left an extraordinary heritage: the Lanificio Rossi, a woollen mill now converted into a cultural space; the impressive Fabbrica Alta; the Jacquard Garden and other factory buildings that tell the story of the birth of the ‘Italian Manchester’.

Along the banks of the Sile, industrial archaeology is intertwined with the river landscape. Studded with mills, hydraulic systems, old locks and river ports, the Regional Natural Park preserves ample industrial heritage, which can be accessed on foot or by bike along the Greenway that follows the course of the river.