Museo Civico di Bassano

Bassano's civic museum holds the largest collection anywhere of work by Jacopo Bassano and his family -- a dynasty of painters who ran one of the most productive workshops in the sixteenth-century Veneto, and whose night scenes and country subjects are unlike anything else in Venetian painting.

A municipal collection of real quality in a town of 40,000, funded largely by its own ticket income. The combined ticket spreads that across both sites.

No flash; the Bassano paintings are dark canvases and lighting is kept low deliberately.

Ticketed, with a combined ticket covering Palazzo Sturm as well -- the sensible purchase if you want both. Museum hours, generally closed Mondays.

In the centre of the old town, a few minutes from Piazza Garibaldi. Allow an hour and a half.

Weekday mornings are quietest. Being indoors and lit, it is a reliable wet-weather option and a good pairing with Palazzo Sturm.

Temporary exhibitions occupy part of the space at intervals and can change what is on display.