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One of our favorite places to visit is the small village of Costozza (near Vicenza), Italy. The quaint village sits at the foot of the Colli Berici hills and is surrounded by stone cliffs and rolling fields of vineyards.

In the center of town, and up a series of sweeping marble staircases, sits the majestic 17th Century Villa da Schio surrounded by the Villa’s gardens. The well preserved Villa opens its gates in May of each year to host an annual Flower Market . Vendors from all over Italy come to share their knowledge and offer a wide variety of plants, garden furnishings and hand-crafts for sale. This year, in addition to the large selection of climbing and ancient roses for sale, there were beautiful delphinium, digitalis, foxglove, clematis, poppies and philox , mixed in among the many other offerings of cacti, succulents and herbs.

Villa da Schio also has some other treasures to offer the visitor – both during the annual Flower Show and also throughout the year. For example, they produce and sell fine quality wines made exclusively from the grapes that they grow. At this annual event, you’ll find the Count da Schio in the Cantina offering tastings and selling the Villa’s wine. The Villa even has guest accommodations for rent. A large, fully furnished apartment can be rented by the week.

Costozza and Villa da Schio are located a short distance from Vicenza, Padova and Venice. The hills offer great places to hike and bike and the small village of Costozza has several very good restaurants which specialize in local cuisine. One of the restaurants is the old “ice-house” of Villa da Schio (La Botte del Covolo) – be sure to stand in the very center of the bar and listen to the unnerving  reverberations of your own voice!

By clicking on the screenshot below you can watch the video guide to Villa da Schio:

This article was written by Luke & Barbara from POVitaly, a great resource for travellers!

Photo copyright by Luke Wynne