VICENZA, a city of Austrian Italy. and capital of the Vicentin, is agreeable situated between two mountains, at the junction of two rivers, one of which, the Bacchiglione, crossed by bridges, (the most interesting of which is the bridge Della Barche) flows through the town. It is about four Italian miles in circuit, and is encircled with a double wall, and defended by a fort. Some of the streets are spacious, and the houses arc in general regularly built. The market-place is of an oblong form, and is adorned with the town-house, which has a very elegant front. The public buildings of this city, of which nearly twenty were designed by Palladio, are of remarkable elegance, and of these the town-house is particularly remarkable. The Olympic Theatre, built at the expense of a society, in the ancient Roman taste, is considered by many persons as the finest specimen of modern architect ure in Italy. The other buildings are the Ragione VIE or Palace of Justice, the Palace del Capitanio, the palace of Chierieati, the Rotundo of the Casa Ca pra, and the gate of the Campus Martins. The cathedral, which has a subterranean *church below the choir, is large, but is encumbered with adjoin ing houses. The church Della Gratia, is the work of Palladio. The other churches are, that of the Dominicans, that of St. Laurent, that of St. Mi
chell, and that of the Madonna del Monte without the city. Vicenza does not contain many Roman antiquities. In the gardens of Battistelli are the ruins of a theatre; there are also three arches of an aqueduct, a statue of Iphigenia, and the remains of the imperial palace.
There is here a Lyceum. Silk is the chief article of manufacture, besides woollen goods and leather. The hills called the Colles Berici, in the neighbour hood, contain some natural grottoes of great extent and variety. For some distance around the city there are various villas and magnificent edifices. Among the former is the villa called the Rotunda, an exquisite edifice of Palladio's; and among the latter the staircase and portico that lead to the church on Monte Berico. This staircase consists of nearly 200 steps, with 35 resting places, all of stone, extending from the town to the summit of the hill. The portico is a noble to the church. It is built of stone, attd is more than a mile long. The church is of the Corinthian order, like a Greek cross, with a dome in the centre. Po pulation about 30,000. See Eustace's Tour through Italy, vol. i. p. 44.