MONTEGROTTO TERME – The second day of our experience “Waterway Experience” signed by the project Gravel in the Land of Venice and coordinated together with Slow Flow, still starts from Montegrotto Terme. This time the direction changes and we cycle towards Padua, always following the Bisatto canal. Arriving in the city opens up increasingly suggestive views, starting from the Astronomical Observatory.
the Baptistery
Among the pearls of the city of Padua there is the Baptistery of the Cathedral, a slice of the city's history, guarded by it like a treasure chest containing precious diamonds. Built in the 70s, when the Carraresi family ruled Padua. One of the most important families to have settled in the area, they already had a culturally flourishing court at the time. Despite this great availability of arts and crafts, It was a foreign painter who frescoed the Baptistery: Giusto De Menabuoi.
The painter took inspiration from Giotto's works, and in three years of intense work the Baptistery was completed. Opening that ancient wooden door, which opens onto Piazza Duomo, it is equivalent to entering the secrets and mind of Giusto De MenabuoiThe spectacle is immense, and to admire it one must start from the top: from the vault. A circle with Christ Pantocrator depicted inside, A crown of saints opens around the figure, ending with the representation of the Virgin.. Positioned in line with Christ, like a clasp in a crown of pearls. As one descends the eye gets lost among depictions of the Old and New Testaments, the common thread of these scenes is the blue of Christ and Mary's robes.
The “blue” way
The Waterway Experience, animated by Slow Flow and Gravel in the Land of Venice, takes us along the Piovego River. A blue road that also passes through Dolo as it flows, the arrival point of our day.
In ancient times, Dolo was a trading hub, and not only that, given its strategic position between Padua and Venice. Inside the city there are still the remains of one shipyard, ancient shipyards where boats were built. The town, located in the province of Venice, is reached by passing by the villas of the Brenta Riviera. The most important is Villa Pisani in Stra which in its 114 rooms has hosted Kings, Doges and Emperors and is now a National Museum.
Bees and Barene
Our cycling stops at the Company Agricultural Bee, managed by Roberto Stefani who created this reality from his passion for bees.
«It is a production – he says – that originates entirely in the Euganean Hills and the territories of the Venice Lagoon. Our honey varies in production and taste every year., it depends on the weather and above all on the "will" of the bees, which are extremely sensitive to changes, an example can be linked to the production of multi-flower honey. A name that immediately suggests the great variety within it, however it changes every year depending on the flowering and the availability of pollen.
«Another specialty of the area – concludes Roberto – is Barena honey: it is a portion of territory that was formed over the course of millenniaThe process is extremely delicate; rivers have brought debris and sediment to shore, forming these strips of land. Their characteristic is that they are subject to the tides, This is why different types of flowers bloom, including the limonium, from which honey is produced. Between June and September, the months when the limonium flowers, the bees are brought to the Barene and honey production begins.
