About Asolo
Students past and present refer to life in Asolo as a “storybook.” A picturesque, medievel Italian City, Asolo is located in the foothills of the Alps, in the province of Treviso, just 40 kilometers north of Venice. Characterized by winding, cobblestone streets, lush gardens, rolling hills, and expansive villas, Asolo was ocne the location of choice for Venetian nobility. (For more information see the Asolo website). Referred to as the “Pearl of Veneto,” Asolo offers plenty of cultural activities, art exhibits, music festivals, fine restaurants, interesting pubs, upscale shops and hotels.
“The town was originally a settlement of the Veneti, and was mentioned as Acelum in the works of Pliny.
In the early Middle Ages it was under the jurisdiction of the Bishops of Treviso and a possession of the Ezzelino family.
Later Asolo was the capital, and seat of the court, of the fiefdom of Asolo, which was granted by the Republic of Venice (to which it belonged) to Caterina Cornaro, the former Queen of Cyprus; in 1489 it was granted to her for life, but in 1509 when the League of Cambrai conquered and ransacked Asolo, Caterina fled to exile and died in Venice a year later. Under her reign, the painter Gentile Bellini and the humanist Cardinal Pietro Bembo were part of the court.
In 1798, the Italian impresario Antonio Locatelli built the Asolo Theatre in the former audience hall of the castle of Caterina Cornaro. The theatre was later purchased by Florida, for the John and Mable Ringling Museum of Art. The theatre was disassembled, shipped to Sarasota, Florida, and reassembled in one of the museum’s galleries in 1952. It was then decided that the theatre should be reassembled into a usable theatre, on the museum’s grounds in the late 1950s. The newly constructed theatre opened in 1958, and is now the home of both the Asolo Repertory Theatre and the Florida State University/Asolo Conservatory for Actor Training.
The town was also home to the English poet Robert Browning, the actress Eleonora Duse, the explorer Freya Stark, the violinist Wilma Neruda and the composer Gian Francesco Malipiero.” - Asolo Wikipedia Page
Asolo is also home to a numerous amount of shops, small businesses, and restaurants all sprinkled throughout the town. Click on the links below to get more details on some of the places CIMBA students frequent the most!
Ristorante Pizzeria Cornaro (“Maria’s”)
