Castello del Catajo, Battaglia Terme

Linda Fornara Bertona

The Euganean Hills Luxury

The Euganean hills rise from the Venetian plain. The highest is Mount Venda (601 meters). These reliefs, born from violent magmatic phenomena, today represent a concentration of culture, history, religion and wellness. Famous vineyards of Pinot, Chardonnay, Italico, Barbera, Merlot and Cabernet show the history of a land loved by philosophers and poets such as Goethe, Petrarca and Foscolo. Let yourself be inebriated by a glass of excellent wine (Borin maison for example) or delicious salami (famous Fontana di Este part of "Consorzio Tutela del prosciutto Veneto Berico Euganeo Dop").
After a gourmet trip try history and culture. Here some news to have a complete solution for good holidays in "Colli Euganei".
The small Versailles, the Monumental complex of Valsanzibio and Villa Barbarigo Pizzoni Ardemani, was brought to its contemporary magnificence in the second half of the Seventeenth century by the Venetian noble Giovanni Francesco Berbarigo assisted by his sons Antonio and Gregorio: "a monumental symbolic road trip to perfection. A journey that brings man from the false to the truth, from ignorance to Revelation". 
This example of baroque gardens consist of more than 60 statues, engraved in Istria stone that integrate into a world of architectures, streams, waterfalls, fountains, water games and fish ponds, between hundreds of different trees and plants, over an area of more than 10 hectares. There is the century-old boxwood maze, the symbolic Hermit’s Grotto, the Rabbits Island and the Monument to Time.
The Castle of Monselice (200 mt) is a building composed of four principal nuclei set up between the 11th and 16th century. The most ancient part is the Castelletto with the annexe Casa Romanica. In 1935 Count Vittorio Cini started a radical restoration of the whole complex and refurnished the interiors.
In the upper part of the Rocca of Monselice, six small churches with a seventh , St George's on the top. The veritable holy city in miniature was built by the Duodo Family at the beginning of the 16th century.
After a cultural trip tray primordial thermal waters to relax body and mind. From the Prealps rainwater seeps into the rocks and flows down to three thousand meters underground before resurfacing in the Euganean thermal basin of Abano Montegrotto many years later after 80 km. The water, enriched with mineral salts and salt-bromine-iodine substances, has a temperature between 70 and 80 C°, when it comes to the surface. Every single thermal hotel has his own spring.
Have a charme holiday at Five stars hotel AbanoRitz based in Abano Terme (PD). "Our Thermae are located in the heart of Europe’s largest thermal spa specialized in thermal mud balneotherapy, a natural treatment based on autochthonous thermal mud and water with exclusive mineralizing, anti-inflammatory, pain relief and muscle relaxation properties. Overlooking the 6000 m2 park with two indoor and outdoor semi-olympic, intercommunicating spa pools, Aqua Fitness corner, hydromassage area, and neck water massage", the hotel explanes. Thermal mud-balneotherapy is indicated for many disorders: injury, lesion, osteoporosis, arthrosis pathologies, joint pain.
You can taste good food and wine in principal restaurant or at The Ugly Duckling Vintage Restaurant with a menu that offers dishes that respect the palates. During the warm months you can decide to have lunch in the park, behind the pools. The Barbecue awaits you under the branches of trees.
Make a jump in the sixteenth-century luxury is possible in Battaglia Terme (PD). A monumental building full of history, charm and legends, built in the 16th century by Pio Enea I of the Obizzi family, Catajo Castle, is a dwelling that over time has served as a royal villa and military lodging, as well as an important literary circle.
It was enlarged in the 17th and 18th centuries and subsequently transformed into a ducal palace by the Asburgo-Este family from Modena. Eventually it became the imperial resort of the House of Hamburg, emperors of Austria. Already in the 16th century it had become the location of one among the most important collections in Europe.

17/06/2017