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00 Asolo
Stemma di Asolo

Veneto · Treviso

Asolo

A walled hill town that Caterina Cornaro ran as her court after trading Cyprus to Venice in 1489.

Best time
Apr–Oct
By car
57 min from Padua
Population
8,916

Known for

  • CATERINA CORNARO

    Queen of Cyprus traded her island to Venice for Asolo in 1489 and held court here until 1509, drawing Bellini and Bembo.

  • ELEONORA DUSE

    The actress retired to Asolo, restored a house in the town and is buried in the local cemetery facing Monte Grappa.

  • HUNDRED HORIZONS

    Carducci's nickname for the town, for the way the ridge opens north to the Prealps and south across the Treviso plain.

  • MARRONI DEL MONFENERA

    The commune lies inside the Marroni del Monfenera IGP production zone.

When to visit

Best · Apr–Oct

  • J8°
  • F10°
  • M13°
  • A16°
  • M21°
  • J26°
  • J28°
  • A28°
  • S24°
  • O19°
  • N13°
  • D9°
  • Best
  • Hot or crowded
  • Quiet
  • Mostly closed

Daytime averages, 2020–2024. Weather data by Open-Meteo.com.

The festa: Prosdocimo di Padova, 7 November

Why come

Asolo perches on a ridge between the Asolan hills and the Veneto plain, forty kilometers north of Padova. Pliny knew it as Acelum. The Ezzelini family held it in the early Middle Ages; the Rocca on the hill above town dates from the late twelfth and early thirteenth centuries and was restored in 2020 after a 2016 storm damaged the walls.

The defining episode came in 1489, when the Republic of Venice gave Asolo as a fiefdom to Caterina Cornaro, the deposed Queen of Cyprus, in exchange for her island. She kept a court here for twenty years until the League of Cambrai sacked the town in 1509. Her circle included Gentile Bellini, the humanist Pietro Bembo and the poet Andrea Navagero.

Robert Browning wintered in a villa here from 1838 onward, and the actress Eleonora Duse retired to Asolo and is buried in the local cemetery. The town carries six institutional signals at once.

The Sunday letter

Asolo is on our list. Its letter is still to come.

We are writing about all 1,000 of these towns, one at a time, in a free letter every Sunday: the photo, the food, the festa. That is our mission. Sign up and you will be there when Asolo comes up. By Peter & Sophia, from Pietrasanta.

Read on

Asolo in our articles

How to get there

From Venice (TSF), about 50 minutes by car.

Verona (VRN) is about 1h 41m away.

By car from the centre of Padua 57 minutes.

Coming by train into Padova? Asolo is about 53 minutes away by road.

Every town within reach of Venice airport.

Asolo, photo 1
Asolo, photo 2

What to see

  • Rocca di Asolo

    Late twelfth and early thirteenth-century fortress on the hill above the town, restored in 2020 with €300,000 in ministry funding.

  • Castello di Caterina Cornaro

    Medieval castle in the town, court of the Queen of Cyprus from 1489 to 1509, now home to the Eleonora Duse theater.

  • Duomo di Asolo

    Cathedral rebuilt in 1747 with an Assunta altarpiece by Lorenzo Lotto, standing on the foundations of a Roman bath complex.

  • Piazza Garibaldi

    The main square at the foot of the Rocca, with the Fontana Maggiore drawing from an aqueduct in continuous use since the Roman period.

  • Cento orizzonti

    Ridge views that gave Asolo its nickname City of a Hundred Horizons, looking south to the plain and north to the Monte Grappa range.

  • Museo Civico di Asolo

    Civic museum with Roman artifacts, the Cornaro court collection, and rooms dedicated to Eleonora Duse and Freya Stark.

The slow-trip planner

Building a trip? Find where Asolo fits in a slow Italy circuit.

Answer five questions. We will shape a geographically coherent slow trip from the 1,000 Italian towns most travelers skip. Yours to save and share.

Plan your trip

We recommend

Where to eat and stay

Not our picks, but places the guides put their name to: a Michelin star, a Gambero Rosso fork, a Slow Food snail, a Michelin Key for the hotels. Worth a table, a counter, or a night when you pass through.

  • Locanda BaggioRistorante

    Locanda Baggio carries two Gambero Rosso forks (82/100), plus a spot in the Michelin Guide.

  • Caffè Centrale AsoloCaffè

    Caffè Centrale Asolo has a place on Italy's historic-locali register to its name.

  • La TerrazzaRistorante

    La Terrazza holds a spot in the Michelin Guide.

  • Albergo Al SoleHotel

    Albergo Al Sole has a place in the Michelin hotel guide to its name.

Living here

  • Population 8,916
  • Commuter belti
  • Pharmacy in town
  • High school within a 30-minute drive
  • Nearest airport Venice, 50 min drive
  • Regional capital Venezia, 1 h 10 min drive

Common questions

What is Asolo known for?
Asolo is a walled hill town at 205 meters that Caterina Cornaro ran as her court after trading Cyprus to Venice in 1489.
Where is Asolo?
Asolo is a comune in the province of Treviso, in Veneto.
What is the nearest airport to Asolo?
Venice (TSF), about 50 minutes by car.
How long is the drive from Padua to Asolo?
About 57 minutes by car.
When is the best time to visit Asolo?
Best in Apr–Oct. July is the warmest month, averaging 28 degrees, and May the wettest, with about 16 rain days.
Is there a sagra or a festival in Asolo?
The town keeps its patron saint's day: Prosdocimo di Padova, 7 November.
Which other towns are like Asolo?
Valdobbiadene, Deruta and Morrovalle.
How many people live in Asolo?
8,916 at the 2023 count.
Tags & datadesignations · numbers · sources

The numbers

  • Elevation: 205 m
  • Population: 8,916
  • Surface area: 25.37 km²

These figures were compiled from public directories: ISTAT, OpenStreetMap and Wikidata, and from the official listings of the guides named on this page. Town details change; verify with official sources before you travel.

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