Santa Maria

Santa Maria, also referred to in connection with Santa Maria di Veggiano, combines a rural character with significant traces of cultural history. An agricultural landscape, notable rustic buildings, and the Bacchiglione define the setting. For travelers who want to explore Veneto not only through its major cities, but also through smaller towns and routes, the area offers several different points of interest: sacred art, historic architecture, and routes along the river.

Church and Sacred Heritage

Santa Maria di Veggiano is home to the parish church of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary. A painting of the Nativity of Mary hangs behind its main altar. It was created by G.B. Pellizzari, a painter from Verona who worked in Padua during the first half of the 17th century. The specific connection to Padua and the period in which the painter worked place the painting within Veneto’s historical cultural sphere, without reducing the church to a single item of its furnishings.

The town’s architectural heritage also includes the Oratorio di Santa Eurosia. It is a subsidiary oratory. Another historic complex is Villa Labia Tommasini. It was built between 1800 and 1822 by the brothers Domenico and Gaetano Tommasini on an older rural building owned by the Labia counts. The villa is regarded as a typical Palladian villa and features a two-storey row of loggias on its façade. Santa Maria therefore brings together different periods and building types: a parish church, a subsidiary oratory, and a representative villa.

Exploring the Bacchiglione

The river is also the most important visible link between the landscape and the routes. The Ciclovia del Bacchiglione follows the Bacchiglione from Santa Maria di Veggiano to the border with the Province of Vicenza and onward to Codevigo, near the lagoons of Chioggia and Venice. A second perspective is provided by the cycling route “5 cycle tours: from Lake Garda to Venice”. It reaches the village of Santa Maria di Veggiano by following the course of the Bacchiglione. This means the town can be viewed both in the context of a regional river route and as a stop on a connection between Lake Garda and Venice.

Stage W04 of the Cammino Veneto delle abbazie e dei santuari also passes by Santa Maria di Veggiano along the Bacchiglione. There, it follows the river along its unpaved embankment and continues to Longare. The Vecchio Mulino can be reached via the route near Santa Maria. It is the surviving part of the old Selvarese mill, whose origins date back to the 11th century.

Historic Landscape at the Vecchio Mulino

The Vecchio Mulino is located in the Veggiano area and is surrounded by the waters of the Bacchiglione and an impressive cultivated private park. Together with the rustic buildings and the agriculturally shaped surroundings, this creates a distinctly rural character. Santa Maria thus represents a way of exploring Veneto in which the river, historic buildings, and routes through the cultural landscape can be experienced in close proximity to one another.

For further regional orientation, you can also explore Vigodarzere, San Siro, Legnaro, Anguillara Veneta, Cadoneghe, Camposampiero, San Giorgio In Brenta and Piazzola Sul Brenta.

For the broader travel overview: Padua.