Exploring (and discovering) hidden gems in Euganean Hills (2nd part)

The second day of our exploration starts with an immersive experience: visiting the newest Luxardo Museum by the business complex in the village of Torreglia (Padua). Dedicated to the two-centuries-old historic company that invented products such as "Maraschino" and "Sangue Morlacco," this museum develops modern and engaging storytelling in five rooms to tell the dramatic and often tragic stories of the Luxardo family. Established in  Zara in 1821 by Girolamo Luxardo and transferred to Torreglia in 1947 due to the consequences of the Second World War, Luxardo is still entirely controlled by the founder's family. Nowadays, they export their famous liquors to 100 countries worldwide. By the museum, you can visit the distillery, with traditional copper pot stills, aging vats, marasca cherry orchards, warehouses, and brand-new bottling lines.

A few kilometers from here, Este is another small and lovely town. Here you find Este Ceramiche & Porcellane, one of the oldest ceramics factories in Europe: a small laboratory where everything is made by hand using often molds some centuries old. You'll be surprised by the modernity of the shapes and decorations of plates, tureens, cups, and trays. They are the result not only of a very ancient culture of modeling and painting but also of the successful current collaboration with some of the most significant contemporary stylists - a reason why Este Ceramiche & Porcellane holds the esteem and sales orders of leading high fashion houses. If, by chance, in the future, you come across some plate with food or fruit trompe l'oeil (namely made in a way that looks real), you know that likely they come from Este.

To continue our immersion in history and beauty, Villa dei Vescovi (Torreglia, again) is a stunning sample of the Italian Renaissance. This exquisite, early 16th-century, proto-neoclassical villa, surrounded by the landscape of the Euganean Hills and adorned with beautiful frescoes, embodies a perfectly balanced fusion of nature, art, and architecture, suspended between reality and illusion. Not only can you visit every part of this enormous manor: you can enjoy the gardens, buy the products they make here (like honey), even organize some private events, or spend some days in one of the two apartments… and feel like an Italian Renaissance noble person. It's easy losing the sense of the time here: to recover it, the close Antica Trattoria Ballotta is renowned for its warm, familiar atmosphere but mainly for its traditional, carefully prepared, and above all, abundant cuisine. The perfect conclusion for our tour of Euganean Hills.

A heartfelt thanks to the Euganean Hills Wine Road, (Strada dei Colli Euganei) its president and all the collaborators who made possible our short but intense journey of discovery of these hills.