Dante put the two siblings in opposite places. In the twelfth canto of the Inferno, among the tyrants steeped in blood, stands Ezzelino III da Romano — «that brow with hair so black is Azzolino» — while in the ninth canto of the Paradiso, in the heaven of Venus, his sister Cunizza da Romano comes forward to meet him. The village bears their family's name: the qualifier «d'Ezzelino» was made official by royal decree in 1868, but Romano appears in the documents as early as 1076, when one Ecelo «of Onara and of Romano» is named.
The town's coat of arms, however, was born of a misunderstanding. Before annexation to the Kingdom of Italy the comune used the arms of the Ecelini published by Giovan Battista Verci in 1779: except that those arms were in fact those of Louis I the Great of Hungary, an ally of the Carraresi. Above the village, on Col Bastia where the da Romano fortress stood, is the tower raised in 1827 to a design by Giovanni Zardo, a descendant of the Canova family. And in the Valle Santa Felicita, during the Great War, a light railway was built with five rails: two for the 750 millimetre gauge of the rack locomotives, two for the 600 millimetre gauge of the wagons, and the rack rail in between.
Baccalà alla Vicentina
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Next up: Santa Maria della Purificazione, patron of the land of the Ezzelini castle, Wednesday 8 September
Nearest airport: Treviso, 35 km away
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📅 Every year, on 8 September; medieval reenactments are held on Colle Bastia during the Palio di Romano
Romano d'Ezzelino celebrates Santa Maria della Purificazione on 8 September, in the main town of Romano; on Colle Bastia, where remains of the ancient Ezzelini castle stand, medieval reenactments are held every year during the period of the Palio di Romano.
Stockfish, milk, oil and anchovies, cooked for hours over the lowest heat: baccalà alla vicentina arrived from Norway with a shipwreck in 1432.
Read more →Straight-line distances from the town centre. Tap a point to open its page.
The closest destinations covered by our editors, with straight-line distance.
Outside Romano d'Ezzelino, but an easy day trip away.
