Discover things to do in Lugo di Vicenza: the church of San Giovanni Battista, Villa Godi Malinverni, the Harvest Festival, the Feast of Saint John the Baptist. Do you want to know more? First of all…
Where is Lugo di Vicenza?
The municipality of Lugo di Vicenza borders to the north with Asiago, to the south with Zugliano, to the east with Lusiana Conco, Salcedo and Fara Vicentino, to the west with Calvene, Chiuppano and Carrè.
The church of San Giovanni Battista
Located in Piazza XXV Aprile, 22, the parish church of Lugo di Vicenza rises on the top of a hill enclosed to the west by the cemetery, to the south-east by a row of dark cypresses, to the north-west by a dense wooded area of acacias and poplars.
Facing east, the projecting façade of the place of worship is rhythmically articulated by pilasters and Corinthian half-columns that separate the wooden portal, framed by a refined architecture formed by two lesenes surmounted by architrave, frieze and finely molded classical pediment, from the side sections decorated with the figures of Saint Zechariah and Saint Elizabeth.
Crowning the towering mass of the structure, whose verticality is accentuated by its dominant position on top of the grassy hill, is the triangular pediment supported by white fluted pillars.
Along the architrave, the words “Piorum minutis” are separated from “atque labore” by the pictorial representation illustrating the baptism of Jesus Christ, inserted in a large round arch in which the inscription “a domino factum est” appears in capital letters.
Spacious and well-lit, the white hall features a modern pipe organ and precious marble altars placed in round-arched side niches.
Villa Godi Malinverni
Located at Via Andrea Palladio, 44, 36030 Lugo di Vicenza (VI), Villa Godi Malinverni is one of the most significant examples of Palladian architecture in the Veneto region.
Harmoniously set in a vast park dotted with centuries-old trees, the sumptuous palace is accessible via a staircase leading to the main body, slightly set back from the side wings in which three elegant round arches open.
What makes the stately property even more fascinating is the sophisticated garden defined by the regular geometries of well-kept hedges and dotted with round and conical crowns of bright green among which rise refined centuries-old statues.
The Harvest Festival
One of the most anticipated and loved celebrations of the Lugo community, the Harvest Festival takes place every year around November 20th.
The event celebrates the primordial bond between human and nature through the enhancement of unique and healthy products from a fertile and sunny land preserved thanks to the knowledge that over the millennia has consolidated the virtues of zeal, humility and pragmatism that distinguish the industrious agricultural culture.
On this occasion, the streets and squares of the village come alive with the crackling roar of vintage tractors, testimonies of the frenetic years of the economic boom that would catapult the rural village into modernity, thus making many of the manually made tools that punctuated the slow working days in the fields obsolete.
Often covered in hanging cobwebs like a clump of dusty rags, the old ox yokes now stand above the stable doors like heavy and dark pagan symbols on top of which stands the yellowed image of Saint Anthony Abbot blessing the animals in the faded bucolic landscape.
In the square in front of the majestic church, large cauldrons of steaming polenta, baskets of wood-fired bread, stalls with local vegetables and handmade artifacts are arranged alongside the stone wheels used by knife sharpeners and the metal gears used to shell corn.
If you are wondering what to do in Lugo di Vicenza and wish to celebrate the autumn season by immersing yourself in the flavors and traditions of an ancient land in a festive and lively atmosphere, participating in the Harvest Festival might be right for you.
