Murder Most Unfortunate (17 page)
Read Murder Most Unfortunate Online
Authors: David P Wagner
Bassano del Grappa, like the settings for my other books, is an Italian city that doesn't get the tourist recognition it deserves. It normally sits quietly on its hill at the base of the Alps watching the tourists stream by on their way to nearby Venice and other more famous cities in the Veneto region. Which is a shame, because it is a place with much to offer. Its charms begin with the covered Ponte degli Alpini, featured on the cover of this book. It was designed by the most famous of Italian architects, Andrea Palladio, and has been associated for decades with the Italian alpine troops. The bridge, which has been destroyed and rebuilt numerous times over the centuries, now is the accepted symbol of the city.
But there are other gems to draw a visitor to this town. The ceramics museum in Palazzo Sturm tells the story of the industry that has been centered in Bassano for centuries. A glazed pumpkin in our kitchen is evidence that ceramics artisans continue to thrive there. The Castello Superiore,
a walled bastion at the highest point in the city, dates to Roman times and encloses the ancient Duomo along with other stone structures. Down from the castle, on one of Bassano's beautiful plazas, sits the San Francesco church, attached to the former convent that is now the Museo Civico, the pride of the city. It is there that one finds the world's finest collection of paintings by Jacopo da Bassano, also called Jacopo Ponte. The two paintings by Jacopo that are a key part of this book's story do not exist, of course, but his work and legacy most definitely do. Back in the day, his neighbors must have wondered how they were going to keep Jacopo down in Bassano after he's seen Venice, but he confounded them by remaining loyally planted to his roots. If for nothing else, you've got to admire the man for that.
Two towns near Bassano are the background for scenes in the book. Marostica, to the west, is famous for its annual live chess match and the walls which meander up and down the hill behind it. Cittadella is a town with an imposing circular wall system, its internal streets forming concentric circles inside the ramparts. It was built as a military response by Padova to Castelfranco Veneto, a walled town put up just to the east by the Venetians. So for a while they faced off each other across the border between the two city-states. Both are well worth visiting. There is a mention of Asolo, just east of Bassano, but Rick doesn't manage to get up there. This tiny village is a true jewel, sitting in a place of honor above the plain. If you can't get to Asolo, you might stop by, of all places, Sarasota, Florida. There you'll find the eighteenth-century Asolo Theater, whose decorative interior was transported from an Italian warehouse in 1949 and beautifully restored inside a new building on the grounds of the Ringling Museum.
Thanks go to my son, Max, for his expertise in things mechanical, this time motorcycles. And once again my wife, Mary, came up with great ideas to fix things whenever the story got into a bind, and helped to keep my descriptions accurate. She also knows her perfume.
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