There comes a moment when Venice ceases to be a city and becomes a problem. It happened in summer, when the heat and humidity of the lagoon made the palaces unbearable and the canals began to smell. The Venetian nobility had a solution: they boarded the Burchiello — the passenger boat that travelled along the Brenta Canal — and left the city behind, heading inland.
The Brenta Riviera and the Villas of the Serenissima
The Brenta Riviera is the first chapter of this journey. Along the Brenta Canal, just a short distance from Venice, noble families built their country villas: Palladian residences with formal Italian gardens, overlooking the water and designed to be admired from passing boats. These were summer retreats, but also working estates, administrative centres and symbols of the Serenissima’s control over the mainland that supplied it with grain, timber and labour.
Today, the Riviera is best explored by following the road that runs alongside the canal. The villas are still there — some open to visitors, others privately owned, all visible from the roadside in an almost uninterrupted sequence stretching from Stra to Dolo. It is one of Veneto’s most distinctive landscapes, suspended between lagoon and plain, between water and countryside.
What to See in the Euganean Hills: Vineyards, Villages and Timeless Landscapes
Beyond the plain, the Euganean Hills rise suddenly from the landscape like islands of dark stone — ancient volcanoes formed over 35 million years ago, now covered with vineyards, olive groves and medieval villages perched on their summits. The volcanic soil, rich in minerals, gives local wines a distinctive character and minerality found nowhere else in Veneto. The Romans knew this well: the thermal waters of Abano and Montegrotto draw from the same geothermal system that has warmed the hills from beneath for millennia.
The Venetian nobility knew it too. In the Euganean Hills, they built villas far more discreet than those along the Brenta Riviera — country residences surrounded by vineyards and orchards, removed from the splendour of the lagoon. They came here to rest, to hunt, and to manage their estates. They also welcomed distinguished guests, drawn by the beauty of the landscape and the tranquillity of the countryside.
Francesco Petrarch chose Arquà Petrarca as the place to spend the final years of his life, settling there in 1370. Goethe passed through during his Italian Journey in 1786 and wrote of it with admiration. Foscolo, D’Annunzio and Daniele Manin all left their mark on these hills. And then there was Galileo Galilei, who taught in Padua and regularly travelled south towards Abano, often stopping at a local inn in Torreglia that still exists today — La Montanella–Ballotta, founded in 1605 and widely regarded as the oldest restaurant in the Euganean Hills.
A Hidden Corner of Veneto Still Waiting to Be Discovered
The Euganean Hills remain one of Veneto’s most overlooked destinations. Most visitors come to the region for Venice, Lake Garda or the Dolomites. The hills stay quietly in the background — and for those who make the journey, that is part of their appeal. There are no crowds, prices remain reasonable, and the quality of hospitality is something rarely found in more celebrated destinations.
Since 2024, the Euganean Hills have been recognised as a UNESCO Biosphere Reserve — a designation that celebrates the area’s remarkable biodiversity and the balance between human settlement and nature that has endured here for centuries. It is a landscape that deserves greater attention, and one that is finally receiving it — slowly, and in exactly the right way.
Wine is perhaps the most direct way to understand this landscape. The region’s whites, made from Fior d’Arancio Moscato Giallo — the Euganean Hills’ only DOCG appellation — and its reds from Merlot and Cabernet grown on volcanic soils are beginning to attract international attention. One of the leading producers is Vignalta, whose winery, carved into the rock of Monte Gemola, has been crafting wines here since 1980.
The thermal spas complete the picture. Abano Terme and Montegrotto Terme lie just a few kilometres from the vineyards and medieval villages — their sulphur-rich waters have been prized since Roman times, more than two thousand years ago, and today flow into modern wellness resorts that operate year-round. A day in the Euganean Hills can end perfectly in an open-air thermal pool, surrounded by rolling hills as they shift through shades of gold and green while the sun sets over the plain on its way towards Venice.
Find the complete route in The Hills of the Doges itinerary.
