We start off from Brendola, almost a piece of Tuscany just outside the town, a balcony hanging between the Monti Comunali and the plain of San Valentino. It is one of the most wonderful and fascinating sights in the Berici HIlls: up above is the Rocca dei Vescovi or Bishops' Stronghold (11th century), the Parish Church of San Michele in the neo-Gothic style; along the road, the Town Hall, with its airy fifteenth-century loggia; villas with parks and gardens on the shallow terraces of the hill or in the plain; the incredible shell-shaped façade of the fifteenth-century Church of Santa Maria dei Revese and the hidden charm of the Piazzetta del Vicariato where stand Villa Pagello, Villino Maluta and the House of the Vicar.

From Brendola we head towards Grancona and from the "Bocca di Ansiesa" we enter the Val Liona, the largest valley in the Berici; its rediscovery and promotion for cultural tourism is due to the efforts of the Pro Val Liona board. Among the many curious and interesting aspects the valley has to offer there are rich deposits of nummulites (fossils of the Eocene period), old mills operating as at the end of the Middle Ages, woods and springs, stone quarries and stone-cutters, dwellings among the rocks. But the prize of them all is the little town of Campolongo, one of the most attractive in the Veneto, with Villa Dolfin (late 15th- early 16th century) and its Torre Colombara or dove-cot (15th century), an extraordinary architectural system that appears rather like a mediaeval fortress. There are other villas along the road: Villa Custozza-Lazzarini (17th century) at Villa del Ferro; Villa Fracanzan-Piovene (1710) by F. Muttoni at Orgiano, with its curious Museum of agricultural machinery, one of the most complete collections of its kind in Italy. Just a few kilometres away from Orgiano lies Sossano, the "capital" of Berico- Euganean Veneto ham, an authentic treasure for lovers of good cuisine. Quite apart from these temptations of the palate, another place not to be missed is Lonigo, where streets and porticoes intersect and alternate with squares in the typical structure of the towns of the Veneto. Jewels of its artistic and architectural heritage are the fourteenth-century Palazzo Pisani by Sanmicheli, now the Town Hall; Villa Giovanelli with its scenic entrance; the Rocca Pisana (1576) by V. Scamozzi and the Sanctuary of the Madonna of Miracles, with its shell- shaped façade in soft stone from the Berici; Villa Pisani- Ferri (1544) in the hamlet of Bagnolo, an unfinished work by Palladio. Every year on 25 March the old (1486) and renowned Horse Fair is held at Lonigo; the town is also the home of speedway racing, a sport involving crazy motorbikes without brakes that burn alcohol. From Lonigo we pass through Pojana Maggiore where we find Villa Pojana (1550) by Palladio and on to Noventa Vicentina. Here we can admire the splendid and imposing Villa Barbarigo (early 17th century), now the Town Hall, and the grandiose Cathedral (1856) with a painting full of light by G.B. Tiepolo, St. Roch and St. Sebastian.

Next we take the SS. 247 road along the Riviera Berica to Barbarano Vicentino; there begins an extraordinary circuit through the heart of the Berici Hills, climbing up onto the Ridge and gradually following the Riviera; one itinerary is clearly the natural complement of the other. The most important reminder of Barbarano history is the Palazzo dei Vicari known as "La Canonica" (15th century), in the Gothic style, its façade covered in coats of arms, unfortunately in a sorry state of repair.
The traditional "Grape and Wine Festival is held in September with the magnificent seven DOC wines of the Colli Berici, the most outstanding of which is the red Tocai. From Barbarano we enter the Scudelletta Gorge, one of the most solitary and harsh places in the Berici, yet one of the most fascinating too; it is dominated on high by the old Church of San Giovanni in Monte. All the more reason for following our personal curiosity to explore hidden corners and parts of the countryside, such as the enchanting Villabalzana, clustered around its solemn white church, or to look down on the Valle di Fimon and Lake Fimon. After Perarolo and its unusual octagonal bell-tower with a vaguely Northern air, we come down towards Vicenza amid villas, farm-houses, vineyards and woods, without failing to stop and see the Museum of the Risorgimento and the Sanctuary of Monte Berico.

It is difficult to tell everything without risking forgetting something of what can be seen and found along the Riviera Berica. Here we find Nanto, the home of oil and truffles and of "Nantopietra", the International Symposium of open-air sculpture which attracts artists from all over the world to renew the tradition of the craftsmen who carved the "soft Vicenza stone" extracted from the quarries in the Berici Hills.

From Nanto to Lumignano which has acquired a claim to fame as the home-town of the Olympic marathon champion Gelindo Bordin. Apart from the glories of sport, this extraordinary town is a paradise for pot-holers who head straight for the Brojon, Guerra and Mura caves where remains of early stone-age settlements may be found; mountaineers and free climbers too are attracted by its well-known "Rock area"; last but not least, it is the home of good cuisine, with its famous "bisi" or peas, the most important ingredient in its classical risotto. No less important is Costozza with its "Covoli" (caves) where there is a constant temperature of 13xC and which connect, in an extraordinary and ingenious system of air ducts, Villa Trento, Viola Trento Carli, Villa Eolia, Villa da Schio, Ca' Molina and Villa Garzadori, constituting the first system of "natural air conditioning" ever created in the cellars and rooms of the villas. The caves are now used for growing mushrooms and were the home of the first mushroom-growing concern in Italy.

We can admire the extraordinary "Tuscan" beauty of the old Parish church of San Mauro (1719) standing high among the cypresses, at the top of a flight of steps, lovingly and devotedly restored by a number of local art-lovers. From Longare, following the Bacchiglione, we come to Montegalda, at the foot of a hill on which stands the old Castello Grimani-Sorlini, now a noble residence surrounded by cypresses and gardens.

Close to Vicenza lies Lake Fimon, a little stretch of water surrounded by magnificent woodlands, strewn with water-lilies, water chestnuts and buttercups. Weapons and objects made of stone and ceramic, remains of pirogues and pile-dwellings of the Stone Age and Bronze Age bear witness to thousands of years of history.