Discover Santuario di Monte Berico

A domed basilica on the ridge directly above Vicenza, reached by a long arcaded walkway that climbs the hillside in a continuous covered run of arches. From the terrace in front of it the whole city lies below and the Palladian villas stand out on the opposite slopes; the church itself is two buildings joined — an older Gothic one absorbed into a larger later church beside it.

The church is essentially two churches sharing a site: the fifteenth-century Gothic building and Borella's Baroque basilica of 1688 built over and around it, so that moving through the interior means moving between two periods.

The Baroque exterior is a domed basilica with a broad terrace in front, sited so the whole composition reads from the city below -- it was designed to be looked at from Vicenza as much as visited.

The Portici are the real architectural event. Muttoni's arcade climbs the hill in a long curve, punctuated by chapels marking the Mysteries of the Rosary, and its rhythm of repeated arches turns the ascent into a measured procession rather than a walk.