Vicenza sits about 40 minutes outside Venice. It's famous on the Italian stage for its many buildings designed by 16-century architect Andrea Palladio. We wouldn't normally have included a stop in Vicenza, but we went out of our way to make it happen so that we could meet some good Italian friends of our close NYC friends, Rachel, Ivan & Franklin. So glad we did; we had a lovely time making new Italian friends!
Socializing aside, our time in Vicenza was brief. One surprise benefit of our timings was that we caught the tail-end of a Salvador Dali exhibit; whimsical, blended real/surreal Dali sculptures were peppered all over town. Here's a sampling of our favorites:
Elefante del Trionfo
The "Triumphant Elephant" sat alongside Palladio's 15th century Basilica Palladiana. The plaque explained: The elephant, Dali's iconoclastic symbol of the future and one of his favorite images, is often depicted atop mosquito-like legs, emphasizing the contrast between robustness and fragility, much like the contrast between the past and modernity.
Ballerina Daliniana
The gorgeous Dalinian Dancer statue was a nod to Dali's love of flamenco. Per the plaque, Inspired by her own inner force, this vibrant dancer moves to the intense and passionate rhythms of the Spanish flamenco. The dancer's skirts twirl around her in a spontaneous display of vitality and ecstasy. Our girls just thought it was fun to mimic :)
Pianoforte Surrealista
As for Dali's Surrealist Piano: The artist has chosen to transform the banal wooden legs of a piano, replacing them with dancing female legs, thus creating an animate, joyous instrument that can dance as well as play. Fun to pretend to play it :)
Others
The melted watch of Dali's Danza del Tempo I (Dance of Time III) sculpture is one of his most well-known images, while his Venere Spaziale (Space Venus) pays homage to the female figure.
Aside from exploring far-out Dali sculptures around Vicenza, we leisurely walked around town, sat in cafes, wrote postcards and generally took it easy. And of course the girls had a case of their afternoon sillies, blowing off steam through a sisterly skipping session in a plaza.
Paige the Server
Paige has been obsessively watching servers (waiters & waitresses) since we started our travels. She loves mimicking their gestures and phrases. Here's her latest stab at it:
Ready to hire her if this cafe in Vicenza doesn't?! :)
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