BLOG
BaitoneAlpino suggests: cruise with Burchiello
The burchiello was, in ancient times, a river vessel for the transport of passengers that provided a connection on the Riviera del Brenta between Padua and Venice. It was mainly used by Venetian nobles to go to their possessions on the mainland. It was a wooden vessel, up to 1.64 m wide and up to 3.68 m long, with an elegant central cabin equipped with three or four balconies, finely decorated and adorned with mirrors, paintings and precious carvings; on the journey in the lagoon it travelled by sail or by oars, while on the route from Fusina to Padua, along the Riviera del Brenta, it was pulled by horses. The journey from Padua to Venice lasted almost a day, for this reason the burchiello was equipped with all the comforts of the time. After 1797, with the Fall of the Republic of Venice and the consequent decline of the Venetian patriciate, the burchielli fell into disuse. In 1960, the Provincial Tourist Board of Padua decided to start a river navigation service, to offer tourists a suggestive itinerary along the Riviera del Brenta, with its wonderful Venetian Villas, linked to illustrious figures such as Tiepolo and Palladio. A Venetian vaporetto was equipped for the purpose, which was given the name Burchiello. The Burchiello scheduled service is still active and allows tourists and enthusiasts to sail along the Riviera del Brenta from the historic center of Padua (boarding at Porta Portello) to Piazza San Marco in Venice and vice versa, stopping at some of the most famous and representative Venetian Villas along the way, such as Villa Pisani (Stra), known as the "Queen of the Venetian Villas", and Villa Foscari Malcontenta, a masterpiece by Palladio and a UNESCO heritage site.