Palladio's Ponte Vecchio over the Brenta, grappa at the end of the bridge, Jacopo Bassano and Canova at the Museo Civico, white asparagus with eggs in spring, and around about Marostica, the Oliero caves and rafting in the Valbrenta
Bassano stands where the Brenta leaves the Valsugana and meets the plain, at the foot of Monte Grappa, which gave it its name in 1928. Over the river runs the Ponte Vecchio, the covered wooden bridge designed by Andrea Palladio, which the Alpini, the Italian mountain troops, consider their own and which the city has rebuilt every time a flood or a war carried it away. At the end of the bridge people have been drinking grappa for almost two and a half centuries, and the centre, two squares in a row and the castle of the Ezzelini above the river, takes half a day on foot. Bassano was the city of the dal Ponte painters, the family of Jacopo Bassano, of the prints of the Remondini, which in the eighteenth century reached half of Europe, and of ceramics, which are still made at Nove, a few kilometres away. The Museo Civico holds the largest collection in the world of Jacopo Bassano and the plaster models and drawings of Antonio Canova, who was born at Possagno, on the other side of the Grappa. But Bassano's season is spring: from March to June the white asparagus arrives, eaten with eggs, and the Grappa opens again to those who drive up. Around about are Marostica with its chessboard square, the Valbrenta with its caves and rafting, the walls of Cittadella, and further on Asolo and Possagno.
Sleeping
Stops and overnight stays
In Bassano there is a motorhome area run by the Comune, in the Gerosa car park south of the centre, with electricity, a service point and a shuttle bus to the centre. By day the motorhome can also be left at the free car park of the Prato, a few minutes from the bridge; outside the city there are the free area at Marostica and a campsite at the foot of the Grappa.
Area camper del parcheggio Gerosa
viale Alcide De Gasperi 80, 36061 Bassano del Grappa (VI)
the equipped area that the Comune has made inside the Gerosa car park, south of the centre, next to the car park for cars from which the shuttle leaves. The maximum stay is 48 hours. SVT's shuttle 206 runs from the car park to via Verci, in the centre, every ten minutes, Monday to Saturday from 7:40 to 20:10; on Sundays and public holidays it runs only in the afternoon, from 15:00 to 19:30. The shuttle ticket is valid for the return trip all day and costs 1.70 euros. On foot, to piazza Libertà and the Ponte degli Alpini, it is about a kilometre. The pitches are narrow and the awning cannot be opened; the road alongside is busy at night too
about thirty bays
ElectricityWaterGrey waterChemical toilet
The Comune does not publish the rate; in December 2024 people who stopped there paid 10 euros for 24 hours, with electricity and the service point included, at the automatic till
the large free car park of the Comune known as Prato 1, next to the Ragazzi del '99 park, with a children's playground, north-east of the centre: piazza Libertà and the Ponte degli Alpini are less than ten minutes away on foot. The bays are for cars, and a motorhome takes two; in May 2026 a six-metre semi-integrated motorhome got in without trouble. On Saturday mornings, market day, and on fine Sundays it is full: arrive early. It is a place for the day; for the night there is the Gerosa car park area
the area in the car park of the old hospital of Marostica, lit, three hundred metres from piazza degli Scacchi and the Castello Inferiore: it is the handiest stop for anyone who wants Marostica and Bassano without paying. The maximum stay is 72 hours. In 2025 travellers found the grey water drain handy and the water filling and the cassette emptying awkward, with a single hose for both. Bassano is seven kilometres to the east
the Antica Abbazia campsite, at the mouth of the Valle Santa Felicita, below Monte Grappa, with pitches with electricity and almost all with water, a baby room, a washing machine and a dryer, electric bike hire and the restaurant next door. Above you see the paragliders taking off from the Grappa, and the campsite has a paid shuttle to the take-off points. Breakfast is booked and costs 10 euros per person. The opening dates are not written down: phone before setting off, especially in winter
The centre of Bassano is small and you go round it on foot, from the Ponte degli Alpini to the squares; the motorhome stays outside, at the Gerosa car park area or at the Prato. You arrive by the Superstrada Pedemontana, which is a toll road, or by the Valsugana main road.
You arrive by the Superstrada Pedemontana Veneta, a toll road, which links the A31 Valdastico, to the west, with the A27 towards Treviso, to the east: you take the ticket at the entrance and pay at the exit at the automatic tills, in cash, by card or with Telepass. The exits are Bassano Ovest, the closest to the Gerosa car park area, and Bassano Est-Rosà. From Padua you drive up the SS47 della Valsugana through Cittadella; from Trento you come down the same main road along the Brenta
The anti-smog bans: every year the Comune signs an ordinance valid from October to 30 April which stops vehicles only in the historic centre, inside viale delle Fosse, viale dei Martiri, viale Scalabrini and viale Diaz, Angarano included. In the last one, of 17 October 2025, Monday to Friday from 8:30 to 18:30, public holidays excluded, diesels up to Euro 4 and petrol vehicles up to Euro 1 could not enter; on days of orange or red alert for fine particulates, every day, Saturday and Sunday included, from 8:30 to 18:30, Euro 5 diesels and Euro 2 petrol vehicles stopped too. Motorhomes are not exempt. The Gerosa car park area and the Prato are outside the zone, and so are the roads to reach them
The ZTL, the limited traffic zone, closes the historic centre, on both sides of the Brenta, with cameras at the gates: Monday to Friday from 19:30 to 5:30, and in via Angarano, beyond the bridge, also on Saturdays from 14:00 and all day on Sundays. A motorhome has no reason to go in
The car parks for motorhomes are two: the Gerosa car park area, paid and with services, and the Prato Santa Caterina, free, for the day. The car parks in the centre, such as the one in piazzale Cadorna, are underground
The city buses are run by SVT, eight urban lines. From the Gerosa car park to the centre there is shuttle 206, with the return day ticket at 1.70 euros; the 90-minute urban ticket costs 1.70 euros, 3 euros on board. It can also be bought with the SVT Vicenza app
The station is east of the centre, about six hundred metres from piazza Libertà. From Bassano trains leave for Padua, through Cittadella, for Venice, through Castelfranco, and along the Valsugana towards Trento
LPG: two filling stations south-east of the city, on the Valsugana road towards Padua, the Beyfin in via Cristoforo Colombo and the Costantin in via Valsugana
For the surroundings: Marostica lies seven kilometres to the west, on the road to Vicenza; Nove, with its ceramics, to the south-west; to the north the Valbrenta is driven up on the SS47; to the east, towards Montebelluna, you go to Asolo and, heading north, to Possagno, Canova's town. For Monte Grappa you go to Romano d'Ezzelino and drive up the strada Cadorna, about thirty kilometres of bends to the summit
Seeing
Sights
The centre of Bassano is covered on foot, from the Ponte Vecchio to the two squares and the castle in a few minutes' walk; the museums and the surroundings need a second day. Many things have their own days: the municipal museums are closed on Tuesdays, the Torre Civica can be climbed only on weekend afternoons from 21 March to October, the sentry walk of the castle is open from late April to October, and at Marostica the walk along the walls only on Sundays and public holidays. The main floor of the Museo Civico, the one with Jacopo Bassano and Canova, is closed from 27 October to 11 December 2026 to set up Canova's colossal Horse, which can be seen from 12 December. Outside the city, the Grotte di Oliero are closed from November to February. Tap a marker on the map to open its entry below.
1
The Ponte Vecchio, or Ponte degli Alpini
Monument · free entry · 45.76751, 11.73111
Ponte degli Alpini, 36061 Bassano del Grappa (VI)
the covered wooden bridge over the Brenta, for pedestrians, which joins the centre to the Angarano district. Palladio designed it in 1569 after a flood had carried away the old one: five spans on four wooden piers, with columns and a pitched roof. Since then it has fallen and risen again several times, through the flood of 1748, the fire of 1813, the explosion of 1945, always in the same form. Legend has it that the Alpini rebuilt it, because many of the workers of the 1948 firm worked wearing the hat with the feather, and since then it has been their bridge. A plaque remembers the partisans who blew it up and the three whom the fascists shot there in reprisal. With the latest restoration the piers under the water are steel and the floor is of Brenta pebbles. The best photos are taken from the two banks, and from the belvedere of Palazzo Sturm
the small museum of the local section of the Associazione Nazionale Alpini, the national association of the mountain troops, at the end of the bridge on the Angarano side, which you enter through the Taverna al Ponte, during the tavern's opening hours. It was born in 1948, with the rebuilt bridge and the first post-war gathering of the Alpini, and it filled up with relics of the two wars brought by the members and by the people of Bassano. On the lower floor there is the reconstruction of a combat post with a mountain artillery howitzer, which stays in children's minds
the historic home of the distillery that Bortolo Nardini opened here in 1779, at the end of the bridge on the city side, and which is said to be the oldest in Italy. Today it is a bar, among the Locali storici d'Italia, the historic venues of Italy, left as it was and looking over the Brenta: you go in for a glass of grappa or for an aperitif, among the locals and the tourists. The actual distillery is on the edge of the city, and the Bolle, the bubbles designed by Massimiliano Fuksas in the company's park, can be seen on guided tours booked on Nardini's website
Opening hours according to Nardini, Monday to Thursday from 8:30 to 21:30, Friday to Sunday and on public holidays until 22:30 · 0424 227744 · nardini.it
in front of the bridge, in the old Palazzo delle Teste, the museum of the Poli distillery of Schiavon: five rooms, with texts in Italian and English, from the alchemists' stills to how grappa is made from the grape pomace, a video, and the collection of miniature bottles. Children like the "olfactometers", two devices where you smell twenty spirits and try to guess the aromas on a card. The last room is the shop, and you visit on your own
Opening hours according to the museum, every day from 9:00 to 19:30; closed on 1 January, at Easter and on 25 December · the museum is free; the tasting of five products costs 3.50 euros per person · 0424 524426 · poligrappa.com · bassano.museo@grappa.com
Palazzo Sturm, ceramics and the prints of the Remondini
Museum · paid entry · 45.76629, 11.73150
vicolo Schiavonetti 40, 36061 Bassano del Grappa (VI)
the palace of a silk merchant, sheer above the Brenta next to the bridge, built in the middle of the eighteenth century on seven levels and frescoed in 1765 by Giorgio Anselmi, with stuccoes that are among the most important rococo decorations in the Veneto. On the ground floor the Museo della Stampa Remondini: the printing house that between the seventeenth and nineteenth centuries sold books, decorated papers, popular prints, games and optical views all over Europe, and next to it the engravings of Mantegna and Dürer. On the main floor the Museo della Ceramica, with Bassano ceramics from the sixteenth century onwards, those of the Antonibon family and of other Italian manufacturers. From the belvedere at the top you see the bridge from above. The Sala degli Specchi, the hall of mirrors, may stay closed when there is an event
Opening hours according to the municipal museums, in 2026, from 10:00 to 19:00, with last entry at 18:00; closed on Tuesdays, except 8 and 29 December 2026 and 5 and 19 January 2027, and closed on 25 December 2026 and on 28 March 2027, Easter Day · 8 euros, reduced 6 over 65; 3 euros from 11 to 26, free up to 10. With the Museo Civico and its exhibition 17 euros, 7 for young people, and 28 euros the family ticket, for up to four people · 0424 519940 · museibassano.it · palazzo.sturm@comune.bassano.vi.it
the two squares of the centre, one next to the other, a few steps from the bridge. Piazza Libertà, the old piazza dei Signori, has the Loggia del Comune, the column with the lion of Saint Mark and the neoclassical facade of San Giovanni Battista; piazza Garibaldi, which the people of Bassano still call piazza delle Erbe because for centuries the vegetable market was held there, has the Torre Civica and the church of San Francesco, with the convent that today is the Museo Civico. Piazza Libertà is the square for the Sunday stroll
the medieval tower of piazza Garibaldi, 43 metres high, which tradition says was founded by Ezzelino da Romano in the middle of the thirteenth century and which is documented from 1349. Its bells marked the market and the watch shifts and raised the alarm; the clock is from the eighteenth century, and the battlements at the top come from a nineteenth-century restoration. From the top you see the whole city, the Brenta and the Grappa
Opening hours according to the municipal museums, in 2026 from 21 March to 31 October, on Saturdays, Sundays and public holidays except Easter, from 15:00 to 19:00, with last entry at 18:30. The 2027 dates have not yet come out · 5 euros, reduced 4; the guided tour "Bassano dal Cielo", Bassano from the sky, on set days, costs 6 euros more · 0424 519901 · museibassano.it · biglietteriamusei@comune.bassano.vi.it
piazza Garibaldi 34, 36061 Bassano del Grappa (VI)
one of the oldest museums in the Veneto, opened in 1828 in the convent of San Francesco. It has the largest collection in the world of Jacopo Bassano and his sons, the dal Ponte painters, and that of Antonio Canova: statues, paintings, drawings, books and letters, which show how he worked. From 12 December 2026 the Cavallo colossale, Canova's colossal Horse, returns to the main floor, the great plaster model restored and reassembled whole after almost sixty years. Around it, Guariento, Lorenzo Lotto, Artemisia Gentileschi, Tiepolo and Hayez, and the Chini archaeological collection. From 24 October 2026 to 4 April 2027 there is the exhibition of Sebastião Salgado, more than 160 photographs from the Maison Européenne de la Photographie in Paris. The cloakroom on the ground floor is free, and backpacks and large bags are left there
Opening hours according to the municipal museums, in 2026, from 10:00 to 19:00, with last entry at 18:00; closed on Tuesdays, except 8 and 29 December 2026, 5 and 19 January and 30 March 2027. Closed on 25 December 2026 and on 28 March 2027, Easter Day; on 1 January 2027 it opens at 14:30. The main floor is closed from 27 October to 11 December 2026 · from 24 October 2026, with the Salgado exhibition, 13 euros, reduced 11 over 65; 5 euros from 11 to 26, free up to 10. With Palazzo Sturm 17 euros, 7 for young people, and 28 euros the family ticket, for up to four people · 0424 519901 · museibassano.it · biglietteriamusei@comune.bassano.vi.it
the tree-lined avenue on the edge of the hill, east of the castle, from which you look at Monte Grappa above the Brenta valley. On the trees of the avenue, on 26 September 1944, thirty-one partisans captured in the round-up on the Grappa were hanged. It is the walk to take in the evening, before dinner, with the light on the mountain
piazza Castello Ezzelini, 36061 Bassano del Grappa (VI)
on the highest hill of the city, above the bridge, the walls of Brenta cobbles and bricks that from the twelfth century protected the church of Santa Maria in Colle, today the Duomo, and that the Ezzelini family made their own. At the entrance the tower of Ser Ivano, about thirty metres high, and in a corner the Ortazzo tower. Between the two rings of walls runs the sentry walk, free, which ends at one of the spots with the best view of the Brenta and Palladio's bridge; it is not suitable for pushchairs. In summer the shows of Operaestate are held in the courtyard
Opening hours the sentry walk on the walls, according to the municipal museums, in 2026 from 25 April to the end of October every day except Tuesday, from 10:00 to 19:00, with last access at 18:30 · 0424 519917 · iat.bassano@comune.bassano.vi.it
via Lungobrenta Hemingway 19, 36061 Bassano del Grappa (VI)
north of the centre, along the Brenta, in the villa Ca' Erizzo Luca, where in the First World War the American volunteers stayed, among them John Dos Passos and Ernest Hemingway, who was with the American Red Cross and drew "A Farewell to Arms" out of that war. The museum tells of his experience as a volunteer and of the war on the Grappa front, and it is a museum for older children; next door, since 2021, there is the Wild Life Museum, a collection of stuffed animals from all over the world
Opening hours according to the museum, all year round Wednesday to Sunday from 10:00 to 13:00 and from 15:00 to 18:00; closed on Mondays and Tuesdays, on 1 January, at Easter, on 24 and 25 December · 9 euros, reduced 7 up to 19 and over 65; free under 6 · 0424 529035 · museohemingway.it · museohemingway@fondazioneluca.it
beyond the bridge, in the Angarano district, a fifteenth-century palace of the municipal museums with a frescoed hall and a garden. On the top floor there is Mondo Animale, Animal World, a small collection of rare stuffed mammals, bears, bovids and big cats threatened with extinction, entrusted to the museum by the CITES service, the one that controls the trade in protected species. The museums do not publish the opening hours: phone first
via Contrà Corte Sant'Eusebio 15, 36061 Bassano del Grappa (VI)
north of the city, on the right bank of the Brenta among the vineyards, the villa that Giacomo Angarano asked of his friend Andrea Palladio, who dedicated to him the first two books of his Four Books of Architecture. By Palladio are the barchesse, the porticoed farm wings, and part of the farm courtyard; the central block is baroque, from the end of the seventeenth century. It has been a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1996 and the five Bianchi Michiel sisters still live there. The visit goes from the barchesse to the nineteenth-century park, to the brolo, the walled orchard, and to the chapel; anyone who wants can taste the organic wines of the family winery, Le Vie Angarano, booking separately on 351 4603464
Opening hours according to the villa, only with a booked guided tour, Monday to Friday at 10:00; at weekends only for groups · 15 euros, 12 from 12 to 25; free under 12 · 0424 503086 · villaangarano.com · info@villaangarano.com
Nove, seven kilometres south-west of Bassano, has made ceramics since the eighteenth century, and still has its workshops and its shops. The municipal museum, in the building of the old Scuola d'Arte, tells three centuries on three floors, from the eighteenth century at the top to today's works on the ground floor; outside, the Parco Urbano della Ceramica, the urban ceramics park, and the works scattered around the village make an open-air museum
Opening hours according to the museum, on Thursdays from 14:30 to 18:00, on Fridays from 9:00 to 12:00, on Saturdays from 9:00 to 13:00, on Sundays and public holidays from 14:30 to 18:30; on Tuesdays and Wednesdays from 9:00 to 13:00 by booking only · 7 euros, reduced 5 from 10 to 18, for students up to 26 and over 65; free under 10 · 0424 597542 · museonove.it · museo@comune.nove.vi.it
Marostica, the piazza degli Scacchi and the Castello Inferiore
Castle · paid entry · 45.74494, 11.65595
piazza Castello, 36063 Marostica (VI)
at Marostica, seven kilometres west of Bassano, the square paved like a chessboard in front of the Castello Inferiore, the lower castle, the castle on the plain that the Scaligeri built in the fourteenth century and that Venice turned into the palace of its governor. Here, every two years, in September, the Partita a scacchi a personaggi viventi is played, the chess game with living pieces, the challenge of 1454 for the hand of Lionora, with more than six hundred and fifty people in costume. Inside the castle there is the exhibition on the hundred years of the game, with the costumes, and you climb the keep, 118 steps among the cells of the old prisons, and onto the walkway, where children ring the wishing bell. The fourteenth-century walls climb from the square up to the upper castle. Marostica is also the city of cherries, in May and June
Opening hours according to the Pro Marostica, in 2026, the castle every day from 9:00 to 13:00 and from 14:30 to 18:30, with last entry an hour before closing · 8 euros, reduced 5 under 14 and over 65; free under 6. With the walk along the walls 11 euros · 0424 72127 · marosticascacchi.it · info@marosticascacchi.it
Marostica, the Castello Superiore and the walk along the walls
Castle · paid entry · 45.74969, 11.65239
via Cansignorio della Scala, 36063 Marostica (VI)
the castle at the top of the hill, above the town, which you reach on foot by the Sentiero dei Carmini, in the shade of the Salin park. From there starts the cammino di ronda, the walk along the eastern walls: 250 stone steps, about seventy centimetres wide, done with a light harness clipped to a rail, like an easy via ferrata. From the top, on clear days, you can see the lagoon of Venice, and around you the Berici and Euganean hills, the Asiago Plateau and the Grappa
Opening hours the walk along the walls, according to the Pro Marostica, in 2026, on Sundays and public holidays from 10:30 to 13:00 and from 13:30 to 19:00 · the walk along the walls 5 euros, reduced 3 up to 14; 11 euros with the Castello Inferiore, from March to November on Sundays and public holidays · 0424 72127 · marosticascacchi.it · info@marosticascacchi.it
at Cittadella, about fifteen kilometres south of Bassano, already in the province of Padua, the medieval ring of walls, shaped like an ellipse, can be walked all the way round along the top, fifteen metres up: almost two kilometres, three quarters of an hour on foot. You go up at Porta Bassano, from the tourist office, and the ticket includes the Casa del Capitano and the Torre di Malta, with the belvedere, the museum of the siege and the archaeological museum. In the Museo del Duomo there is the Supper at Emmaus by Jacopo Bassano, open on Saturdays, Sundays and public holidays from 15:00 to 18:00, with a separate ticket
Opening hours according to the operator, every day from 9:00; it closes at 17:00 from November to February, at 18:00 in March and October, at 19:00 from April to September, with last entry an hour earlier. Closed on 25 December · 5 euros, reduced 3 from 4 to 17 and over 65; 14 euros for the family, two adults and two children; free up to 3 · 049 9404485 · muradicittadella.it · cittadella@historiatravel.it
Point of interest · paid entry · 45.84355, 11.66815
via Oliero di Sotto 85, Valstagna, 36029 Valbrenta (VI)
in the Valbrenta, about fifteen kilometres north of Bassano, the park of the springs of the Oliero, with the great trees planted by the botanist Alberto Parolini, who opened the cave to the public almost two centuries ago. You enter the Grotta Parolini by boat, with a guide, for about twenty minutes, as far as the Sala della Colata, a cascade of white stalactites fourteen metres high: inside it is 12 degrees all year round, and they give you the helmet at the entrance. The ticket includes the speleology museum, with the aquariums and the olm, the blind amphibian that lives only in caves, the paper mills museum and the Museo etnografico of Valstagna, the folk museum, open on Sundays and public holidays. There is no booking. The car park at the entrance is free and large enough for motorhomes, and dogs are allowed on a lead. In heavy rain the boat may not go out: phone first
Opening hours according to the park, in 2026: from 22 March, in March and October, only on Sundays from 10:00 to 17:00; in April, May and June on Saturdays and Sundays from 10:00 to 18:00, and from 16 June also Tuesday to Friday from 10:00 to 17:00; in July Tuesday to Friday from 10:00 to 17:00, on Saturdays and Sundays from 9:00 to 18:00; in August Monday to Friday from 10:00 to 18:00, on Saturdays and Sundays from 9:00 to 18:00. Closed on Mondays, except in August, and closed from November to February. The 2027 dates have not yet come out · 12 euros with the boat in the cave, the museums and the park, reduced 10 from 5 to 17, over 65 and for families with children; 6 euros without the boat, reduced 5; free up to 4 · 0424 558250 · grottedioliero.it · info@grottedioliero.it
Point of interest · paid entry · 45.83077, 11.70183
via Fontanazzi 1, 36020 Solagna (VI)
the base of the Ivan Team rafting centre, at Solagna, on the left bank of the Brenta, seven kilometres north of Bassano; it is the same operator as the Grotte di Oliero. The easiest descent, the Brenta Raft, is for everyone from the age of 3: two hours in all, with the wetsuit, the briefing, the transport to the put-in at San Gaetano and the descent to the base, with jumps into the water at the old Carpanè power station. It goes ahead in the rain too. You book by phone, and you bring a swimsuit, a T-shirt that is not cotton, shoes that can get wet and a change of clothes for the shower. The centre also does canoeing, kayaking and hydrospeed
According to Ivan Team, the easy "Brenta Raft" descent costs 32 euros from 3 to 11, 40 from 12 to 17, 45 euros for adults · 0424 558250 · ivanteam.com · info@ivanteam.com
the longest stairway in Italy, 4444 steps of stone which from the Brenta valley, at Valstagna, climb 744 metres up to Sasso di Asiago, on the Plateau. The Visconti had it built at the end of the fourteenth century to slide the tree trunks of the Plateau down to the valley, in a channel that runs alongside the steps; from the Brenta the timber went down to Venice, for the ships of the Arsenale. Climbing it all is a long walk, for fit teenagers; the first bends are enough to understand how it was
Bassano's winter is Christmas in piazza Libertà, with the markets, the ice rink at the castle and the Befana, the Epiphany witch; in spring the restaurants cook white asparagus, in July the centre holds a party on Wednesday evenings and in summer there is Operaestate, with shows for children too. At the beginning of October the livestock fair comes back, on the Thursday, and the autumn fair, at the weekend. At Marostica, seven kilometres away, the chess game with living pieces is played only in even years.
Next: Antica Fiera di San Simeone at Marostica · 31 Oct
31Oct
Antica Fiera di San Simeone at Marostica
the last Sunday of October
the fair of Marostica's patron saint, for the end of the season in the fields: in piazza Castello and the streets of the centre the market show of farm produce, the blessing of the autumn fruits and of the tractors, the pumpkin competition, traditional games, street artists and the tombola, the bingo in the square, in the afternoon; at the food stands spit-roast goose with Marzemino wine, and in Campo Marzio the merry-go-rounds for children. In 2026 it is on Sunday 25 October
to be confirmed
This year's dates are not out yet
Christmas in Bassano
from the end of November to Epiphany
the lights, the big tree in piazza Libertà and the Christmas markets in piazza Libertà and piazza Garibaldi until the end of December, then the Befana market in piazza Garibaldi until 6 January. At the Castello degli Ezzelini, Father Christmas's village at weekends, with letters, workshops and readings for children, and the ice rink open every day until Epiphany; at weekends a little train goes round the centre starting from piazza Libertà, and in the church of San Giovanni there is a nativity scene to see free of charge. On 6 January the Pro Bassano brings the Befana, the Epiphany witch, to piazza Libertà. In the winter of 2025-2026 it ran from 22 November to 6 January; the programme comes out in November
Bassano White Asparagus Season
from San Giuseppe to Sant'Antonio, that is from mid-March to mid-June
the season of PDO white asparagus from Bassano, presented by the restaurants of the Bassano restaurateurs' group of Confcommercio: dedicated menus every day and about ten gala dinners between the end of March and May, in the city and in the villages around. The dinners are booked at the restaurants
Bassano sotto le stelle
Wednesday evenings in July
five Wednesdays when the historic centre fills with shows, music, circus and tastings. In 2026 the first was on 1 July, with the parade of lights that opened Operaestate
Operaestate Festival
from mid-June to mid-September
the festival of dance, theatre, music and circus of Bassano and the Pedemontana, with more than a hundred shows in about fifty places, from the theatre to the castle to the village squares. For children there is the Minifest, the shows for families on summer evenings in Bassano, Rosà, Nove and the other villages. In 2026 it was the forty-sixth edition
Fiera Franca and Fiera d'Autunno
the first Thursday and the first weekend of October
on Thursday the Fiera Franca, the livestock fair along viale De Gasperi, with the show of fattened oxen, the horses and workshops for schools; on the Saturday and Sunday after, the Fiera d'Autunno, the autumn fair, fills the streets and squares of the historic centre with stalls, with delegations from the twin towns. In 2026 the Fiera Franca was on 1 October and the Fiera d'Autunno on 3 and 4 October
Partita a Scacchi di Marostica
in September, in even years
the chess game with living pieces on the great marble chessboard of piazza Castello, at Marostica, with hundreds of people in costume, in the evening, with about 3,600 numbered seats bought online. In odd years it is not played: the next one is in 2028, on 8, 9, 15 and 16 September at 21:00
Remember
Useful tips
The shuttle from the Gerosa car park on Sundays runs only in the afternoon, from 15:00 to 19:30: on Sunday mornings you walk to the centre, a kilometre, or leave the motorhome at the Prato Santa Caterina, which is less than ten minutes from the bridge
The anti-smog bans apply only in the historic centre, where a motorhome does not go anyway: the Gerosa car park area and the Prato can be reached by a Euro 4 diesel too, every day
On the first Thursday of October, for the Fiera Franca, viale De Gasperi, the road of the motorhome area, is closed between strada Cartigliana and via Rosmini from 4:00 to 18:00: arrive the day before, or in the afternoon
On Thursday and Saturday mornings there is the market in the streets of the centre, and on Saturdays the Prato Santa Caterina fills up: arrive early, or sleep at the Gerosa car park and take the shuttle
Many things have their own days: the municipal museums are closed on Tuesdays, the Torre Civica can be climbed only on weekend afternoons from 21 March to October, the Grotte di Oliero are closed from November to February, and in March open only on Sundays, in April and May only at weekends, the walk along the walls at Marostica only on Sundays. The main floor of the Museo Civico is closed from 27 October to 11 December 2026
With children: the bridge and the olfactometers of the Museo della Grappa, the sentry walk of the castle, the walkway of the Castello Inferiore at Marostica with the bell, the boat in the Oliero cave, the easy descent of the Brenta by raft from the age of 3, and the walls of Cittadella with the family ticket
In the recipe the source does not say how much oil is needed (only enough for a fairly runny sauce), how long the eggs are boiled, whether white asparagus is peeled or whether the water is salted; and the eight minutes of cooking are the source's: thick white asparagus is tested with the tip of a knife
Bassano del Grappa · part two
and then?
What to do, what to taste, and where to go tomorrow.
Experiences from here
What we did starting from here, ordered by driving time.
In Bassano spring announces itself with white asparagus, PDO since 2007: it is grown under mounds of earth covered with dark sheets, so that the sun does not touch it, picked by hand from 1 March to 15 June, and sold in bunches tied with a willow twig, the stroppa, with the mark of Palladio's bridge. It has a sweet and bitter taste, and tradition wants it boiled with eggs, sparasi e ovi in dialect, above all at Easter. The rest of the year people raise a glass of grappa, distilled here since the eighteenth century and drunk at the grapperia on the bridge; at table there are bigoli, the thick fresh spaghetti, baccalà alla vicentina, stockfish Vicenza style, with polenta, and sopressa vicentina PDO, the local salami. From the hills of Breganze, to the west, come Vespaiolo and Torcolato, the sweet wine made from dried grapes, and from Marostica, in May and June, cherries. The recipe is from the Accademia Italiana della Cucina, and in a motorhome it needs only a tall saucepan, a sieve and a bowl.
trim the asparagus, tie them in small bunches and stand them upright in a tall, narrow saucepan
add water up to about two thirds of the stalks, and let them simmer for about eight minutes
shell the hard-boiled eggs, cut them in half and press the yolks through a sieve
add the lemon juice to the yolks and work in the oil in a thin stream, stirring all the time, until the sauce is fairly runny
chop the whites and put half of them into the sauce
season with the chopped anchovies and capers, add pepper, and taste for salt and lemon
serve the asparagus piping hot, to dip one at a time into the sauce on the plate, or cold, dressed with the sauce and with the rest of the chopped whites on top
the Ponte Vecchio over the Brenta, with the mountains at the mouth of the Valbrenta, on an August afternoonPhoto: BKP, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0the Ponte Vecchio and the houses on the Brenta in the evening light, in AugustPhoto: Museshare, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0the Ponte Vecchio and the Brenta seen from above, with the Valbrenta opening behind the cityPhoto: Wikimaruz, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0under the wooden roof of the Ponte Vecchio, on the cobbled pavingPhoto: BKP, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0the Ponte Vecchio lit up at night, with the houses on the bankPhoto: Dario Rettore, Wikimedia Commons, Public domainthe coloured houses on the bank of the Brenta seen from the Ponte Vecchio, with the castle abovePhoto: fedewild, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 2.0the historic centre of Bassano from above, with the Brenta and the Ponte VecchioPhoto: Paolo Fiorese, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0the end of the Ponte Vecchio with the Alpino painted on the Taverna al Ponte, where the Museo degli Alpini isPhoto: Alain Rouiller, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 2.0the Nardini grapperia at the end of the Ponte Vecchio, in via AngaranoPhoto: Rino Porrovecchio, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 2.0an old still in the Poli Museo della Grappa, next to the bridgePhoto: Superchilum, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0piazza Libertà with the column of the lion of Saint Mark and the Torre Civica in the backgroundPhoto: Lucamenini, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0piazza Garibaldi with the portico of San Francesco and the Torre CivicaPhoto: Alain Rouiller, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 2.0the cloister of the Museo Civico, in the old convent of San FrancescoPhoto: Cristianferronato, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0the sculptures of Antonio Canova in the rooms of the Museo CivicoPhoto: Silvana Gallio, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0the picture gallery of the Museo Civico, where the canvases of Jacopo Bassano hangPhoto: Cristianferronato, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0the porcelain of the ceramics museum at Palazzo SturmPhoto: Peccadille, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0the Castello degli Ezzelini with the keep and the battlemented wallsPhoto: Alberto Bruschi, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0the Duomo of Santa Maria in Colle with its bell tower, inside the walls of the castlePhoto: Syrio, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0a holm oak on the Viale dei Martiri with the portrait of one of the young men hanged in 1944, and the mountains behindPhoto: Rino Porrovecchio, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 2.0Porta Dieda, with the lion of Saint Mark and the painted coats of armsPhoto: Alain Rouiller, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 2.0Villa Angarano with Palladio's barchesse, on a September dayPhoto: Davide Mauro, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0the piazza degli Scacchi of Marostica from above, with the walls climbing to the Castello SuperiorePhoto: Superchilum, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0the Castello Inferiore of Marostica on the piazza degli ScacchiPhoto: René Dinkel, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0the Castello Superiore of Marostica and the walls on the hill of olive trees, in MayPhoto: Federico Candoni, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0Palazzo Baccin at Nove, the ceramics town, with the painted frieze on the facadePhoto: Matteo.sana, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0the green water of the Parco delle Grotte di Oliero, in the Valbrenta, on a May morningPhoto: Syrio, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0one of the Oliero caves, with the water coming out clear from the rockPhoto: Syrio, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0the canoe slalom course on the Brenta at Valstagna, on a January dayPhoto: N. Fioretti, Wikimedia Commons, Public domainValstagna on the Brenta, with the rock walls of the Valbrenta behindPhoto: Syrio, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0the Valbrenta and Valstagna seen from Oliero, on an April eveningPhoto: Dedaperli, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0
