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Whether it’s crumbling under the weight of mass tourism or not, people will keep flocking from all over the world to Venice and its historic, canal-traversed center. They just can’t resist its maritime charm, and honestly, I get the appeal.

Having visited La Serenissima three times myself, I can attest there’s truly nothing quite like it.

But perhaps the biggest mistake tourists make is not skipping Venice altogether, but ignoring the wider Veneto region that surrounds it, and all the beautiful, lesser-known treasures hiding in plain sight.

Think Treviso, a historic inland city cut through by winding waterways, Chioggia, an up-and-coming Venice alternative with canals of its own, and my personal favorite, Vicenza.

Here, you’ll find a Veneto that still feels largely untouched by the masses, with tiny piazzette lined by cafés, elegant Venetian architecture, and plenty of that old-world charm… without Venice’s eye-watering prices.

A Renaissance Gem To Rival Florence In Beauty

Vicenza is the kind of Italian city that makes a lot of sense if you’ve already checked off the big-ticket Italy circuit… or if you don’t mind kicking it off with the less-obvious alternatives.

It has the stunning architecture, the delicious food, the romantic piazzas, and the fascinating history that keeps drawing you back to The Boot… without the feeling you’re wading through an indiscernible mass of bodies.

The biggest draw here is the Palladio-designed Historic Center:

If Haussmann was responsible for Paris’ 19th-century makeover, Andrea Palladio is the renowned architect who transformed Vicenza a few centuries earlier, in the 1700s, completely reimagining a mess of a medieval cluster of weathered houses into an open-air catalog of the Renaissance.

Vinicius Costa

Vini, our senior lead writer at Travel Off Path, has over 60+ countries under his belt (and currently weaving tales from Paris!), and a knack for turning off-the-beaten-path experiences into informative stories that will have you packing your bags.