We made the first of our two motoring tours of Italy in 2001. We took the shuttle train through the channel tunnel on a Friday evening late in September, stayed the night in Calais, then drove down through France to Italy, arriving at dusk in Milan.

On Sunday we drove on to Verona, taking a detour along the shores of Lake Garda on the way. In the afternoon we visited the art museum in the Castelvecchio. The castle was completed in 1376 and is a superb setting for a museum. The fortified bridge that crosses the river here is a restoration; the original was destroyed at the end of the Second World War. In the evening we joined the passeggiatta, taking a stroll through the streets to the arena, before heading back to our hotel for supper.

On the Monday we intended to drive to Padua, stopping at some villas on the way, but when we arrived at the Villa Pisani at Strà we found it closed, and the sky overcast and raining, we decided instead to go on to Venice. We parked just over the causeway and then took a boat through the canals to the piazza San Marco. It was still raining and the square felt cold and unattractive. Planking had been set down to allow pedestrians to walk over the puddles. We had some coffee at a cafe and had a look round the basilica di San Marco before walking back to the car, crossing the Rialto bridge on the way. Back on Terraferma, we drove clockwise round to the far side of the lagoon to look out over the Adriatic and back towards Venice from the sea, before heading on to our hotel in Padua.

On another day it would probably have been different, but Venice in the rain was a disappointment. So far the weather had been against us, but it turned in our favour on Tuesday. A beautiful sunny day starts with a visit to the Villa Foscari Malcontenta. I like the lack of tourist infrastructure, just a gardien with a satchel selling tickets.  There is an autumnal feel to the garden. Second stop is back to the Villa Pisani, a baroque villa from the 18th century, projecting the power and influence of the Pisani family. We then head north to Maser, stopping at Treviso for a coffee and a walk around the town. The traffic on the road to Maser is heavy and the location difficult to find, even with satellite navigation, because the signposting is poor. The villa Barbaro and the villa Foscari are, I think, two of Palladio’s finest houses. The villa Barbaro is built into the hillside and there is a fine view, particularly in the evening as the sun sets. The fresco’s are by Veronese. After visiting the house we walk down to the Tempietto at the edge of the grounds.

Andrea Palladio was born in Padua and most of his work was built in and around Venice and Vicenza. Palladio’s inspiration was the buildings and architecture of ancient Rome. He knew the work of Vitruvius, the principal source for Roman construction and engineering, and made three trips to Rome in the 1540’s. In 1554 he published L’Antichità di Roma and in 1570 I Quattro Libri dell’Architettura, detailing rules and plans for building.

The Villa Foscari was completed in 1560 and is sited by the Brenta canal. The Villa Barbaro was probably completed by 1558. The Tempietto was Palladio’s last project and he was working on it at his death in 1580. At this time there was a change in thinking about agriculture among the leading classes in Venice. Venice had traditionally depended on sea-borne trade, and most grain was imported. However, the fall of Constantinople in 1453, and subsequent Turkish domination of the eastern Mediterranean; and the discovery of sea routes to India by the Portuguese in 1498; meant that Venice’s traditional trade and prosperity were threatened. In the first half of the 16th century the administration of the farms on the Terraferma was re-organised, the marshes were drained and irrigation and drainage systems built, copying techniques used in Lombardy.

To practical necessity was added an idealisation of agriculture and rural life learned from classical writers. Two types of villa emerged: villas which were primarily estates and those which were primarily realisations of the idea of the arcadian life. The Villa Barbaro is the foremost of the second type.

Next day we drove on from Padua to Florence, via Ravenna. After leaving Padua we drove up into the Euganean hills to visit Arquà Petrarca and the house were Petrarch lived for four years in his retirement before his death in 1374. We reach Ravenna in time for a coffee break, and visited the Mausoleo Galla Placidia, which is roman building, thought to have housed the remains of the second wife of Theodosius I, the last emperor of a united Rome. Just outside Ravenna, we visited the Basilica di Sant’Apollinaire at Classe, built in brick and completed in 549 CE.  We left Classe mid-afternoon for the drive across the Apennines to Florence. The road becomes a switchback up and down the hills, and it was a slow going, but the scenery is spectacular, and we reached the outskirts of Florence as it was getting dark.

We had only one day in Florence. The queues for the Uffizi were too long so we went to the Palazzo di Medici-Riccardi to look at the frescos of Benozzo Gozzoli in the Magi chapel. They were completed in 1460. We also visited the Duomo and climb the cupola. Brunelleschi’s dome, which was finished in 1436, is magnificent, but I am not sure I like the marble facing of the building. I prefer stucco and stone.  In the afternoon we visited the Palazzo Pitti and Giardino di Boboli. Looking out from the gardens, the hillsides look exactly as I expect them to look from seeing renaissance paintings. From the palazzo, we walk along the river to the viewpoint of Michelangeiolo. This is the place from where all the standard pictures of the cathedral are taken.

From Florence we drove on to Genoa, taking a break to visit Pisa on the way. The tower is closed for renovation unfortunately, something about a lean. I first visited Genoa as a child in 1963 during our voyage out to Africa. Unfortunately we only have an overnight stop and no time to explore the city. The hotel overlooks the esplanade and has a fine view of the harbour and in the morning we drove up into the hills to look down on the port before driving on up the coast, for the second part of this vacation, a week in a rented villa at Vidauban in France.