Veneto is not just "La Serenissima": the cultural destinations offered by the region are countless.Take a journey beyond usual schemes, uniting cultural, environmental and gastronomic values, with the "Burchiello".

This is a daily river cruise along the Brenta Riviera (with departures from Padova or Venice on alternate days), which takes place from the end of March to the beginning of October.

The journey, which cruises through places of special environmental significance, lets you admire more than fifty summer resorts of Venetian Nobility. The three most important villas are visited: Villa Pisani, Barchessa Valmarana and Villa Foscari.

Leaving from Padova the first visit is dedicated to Villa Pisani, the most majestic among all the resorts in the Riviera. Now a National Museum, it was commissioned by the Pisani family between 1736 and 1756 to celebrate the appointment as Doge of Alvise Pisani,but it was sold to Napoleon I in 1807. Designed by Girolamo Frigimelica and in part by Francesco Maria Preti, the villa boasts among the artists that decorated it even Tiepolo ("Apoteosi della Famiglia Pisani", 1761-62).

Passing the Dolo lock, the Burchiello docks in Mira for the visit to the Barchessa Valmarana, a XVII structure with frescoes of Michelangelo Schiavoni, better known as "il Chiozzotto".

After a well-deserved gastronomic break, and an optional stop in Villa Gradenigo, you continue sailing onto Villa Foscari, also known as "la Malcontenta"(the unhappy one), from the name of the wife of one of the Foscari, who was confined here. The villa, commissioned by Nicolò and Alvise Foscari is one of the masterpieces designed by Andrea Palladio (1571), and it was frescoed by Giovanni Battista Zelotti and Battista Franco, two XVI century painters.

Leaving the "Malcontenta", the boat crosses the ancient Moranzani lock, and then smoothly sails onto the lagoon, to berth in Venice, in Piazza San Marco.

The motorboats used for the sailing are furnished with care, and they offer all the comforts (heating and conditioning system, organised bar, refreshment rooms, microphone system, radio, stereo). Comfortably seated on the Burchiello's armchairs you can admire the extraordinary synthesis of history, art and nature the Brenta Riviera represents.

Fares, schedules and information on the connections between Venice and Padova are available on the site www.ilburchiello.it