When I started planning this holiday, I was looking for a different region in Italy that still wasn’t far from Zurich. After looking at the map I realized that there was a town in the area that I had wanted to go back to since I went interrailing because I wanted to see if the youth hostel we stayed at was still there.
While my university friend, Alona, and I were interrailing during the summer of 1989 we had planned to stay in Venice. Unfortunately Venice had no cheap rooms left and it was recommended that we try Padua. We got back on the train for the 40 minute journey back to Padua. However on arriving in Padua we found there were no beds available at the youth hostel there either. They told us to take the local train to Montagnana, a further 30 minutes from Venice. You have to remember that we had no mobile phones or wifi to check out where we were going. We got off the train at Montagnana in the middle of nowhere and walked towards the imposing walled city.
We entered the city through the southern gate and headed to the main through road. I can’t remember exactly how we ended up walking in the right direction but we ended up at the west (Vicenza) gate.
The youth hostel was actually in the tower to the right of the gate and had 4 dormitory rooms above each other, each with 4 sets of bunk beds. There were open metal stairs between the floors which were very steep and fun to negotiate with a heavy rucksack on your back. We had already stayed in an italianate villa in Florence but this was by far the quirkiest place so far! The best bit was that due to the thick walls the inside of the building stayed relatively cool. We spent the couple of evenings we were there sitting under the trees chatting with the other guests.
As you can probably see from the pictures, the building is not used anymore as a youth hostel. Such a pity that people won’t get to stay in such an interesting building. I’m sure it no longer meets building regulations – it probably didn’t when we stayed there.
Instead the youth hostel has moved just outside the walls but in the same corner of the city to a yellow painted municipal box.
Luckily we weren’t planning to stay there this time as it wasn’t even open. This youth hostel had obviously carved a niche in both our memories as when I sent Alona at picture of it she knew exactly where it was and she even managed to find a picture of us when we were there.
We had waited until Thursday to visit Montagnana as I had checked when the market was on. It was a very sleepy place 28 years ago and it was still very quiet on market day. If we had gone any other day I don’t think we would have seen a soul.
The walls are still in really good condition and you can go up the tower by the east (Padua) gate to get a view across the city.
We decided it was too warm and stayed on the ground in the shade as much as possible.
After a stop to rehydrate was wandered through the city, out of the north gate passed the new hostel and back to our car.
I couldn’t help taking a final couple of pictures of the walls.
When we got back in the car, the thermometer read 36.5C in the shade but it hit 39C before we got back to the agriturismo.
We stopped at a wine supermarket on the way back so I could buy a few bottles of the local tipple and we also grabbed an Italian tapas style lunch. The desserts were lovely – finally a tiramisu I could enjoy.
The rest of the day was spent by and in the pool. The pool temperature was 31C so it was almost like getting in the bath.
Unfortunately for Bethany, one of her new friends was leaving the next day but she asked her if she would come swimming with her when they got back from the local pizzeria. They both wanted to go swimming when the pool was lit up at night. At 9pm there was a light tap on the door and Noa was standing outside ready to go swimming. Bethany jumped up and ran outside and they had a fun half an hour together until it was time for Noa to go to bed before her early start. The family were driving back to Dresden and had planned to leave at 6am.
Bethany’s other friends then arrived back from their trip to Lake Garda so she spent some time chatting to them too. Eventually it was time for bed. Only one more full day left for us too 😢
Crouch Family On Tour 