Asolo and the Villa di Maser

If you think that the Veneto extends for miles along a featureless plain, think again.

The town of Asolo is perfectly situated among the cypresses in the foothills of the Dolomites 47 miles from Venice. It’s a tiny walled town once ruled over by Queen Caterina Cornaro (1454-1510), the Venetian wife of the King of Cyprus. Asolo’s 13th-century castle was the home of Queen Catarina, exiled to live out her days in elegant idleness, because loyal to her native city, she had po