Hotel Villa Cipriani - Asolo

The Hotel Villa Cipriani at Asolo was once the home of Robert Browning. Today it is one of the most exclusive hotels in northern Italy. Here is an appreciation of Asolo by the American art critic Charles de Kay, written towards the end of the nineteenth century. He would be gratified to learn that Asolo retains its airy charms as a country retreat to this day.

Asolo’s position on the fringing hills encourages the belief that at some period the peoples of the plains took refuge there against the incursions of pirates from the Adriatic - whence the name. It is still a refuge. Hither fly the Venetians who have become languid under the breath of the south wind; though the altitude is not great, great is the difference between the air of the Asolo and that of the lagoons. In ‘Asolando’ we get Browning’s affection for the place:

How many a year, my Asolo,
Since (one step just from sea to land)
I found you, loved yet feared you so.

The title of this poem, which is that of his book, is fancifully derived from the Italian verb asolare, ‘to take the air’, and as such fits very well a group of verses, written for the most part at Asolo, between the walks and drives over the hills whenever Browning escaped from the more stagnant atmosphere of Venice. At Asolo one may ‘asolate’ very pleasantly if there is any wind at all, and when that fails, choose some bit of solid shade and watch the little gray squirrels scampering straight up walls and tree trunks, or the crows sailing off into the depth of air. In Italian the noun asolo signifies a breath or gentle puff of wind. Were it not that places are rarely if ever named after such a fashion, one might fancy that the inhabitants of the plain called the hill by that name because, when all was heavy with heat below, a breeze was to be had up here.

VILLA CIPRIANI
Via Canova 298, Asolo 31011, Italy.
Telephone +39 0423 523411
Fax +39 0423 952095
Email: reservations@villaciprianiasolo.com
www.villaciprianiasolo.com

The Hotel Villa Cipriani is set in extensive grounds and has 31 individually designed rooms. Its restaurant, “Cipriani”, is widely known and has an excellent wine list. The hotel has a 120 sq metre Wellnesspace spa and three meeting rooms. Asolo is an ideal base from which to explore the Veneto.