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CLASSICAL MUSIC IN VICENZA
Chamber music at aperitivo hour in an eighteenth century palace courtyard
Free summer concerts at 7pm in the courtyard of Palazzo Cordellina
At 7pm, while Vicenza is still moving between late afternoon and aperitivo, Palazzo Cordellina opens its neoclassical courtyard for a series of free summer concerts. Al chiaro di note brings piano, guitar and chamber ensembles into the eighteenth century palace in the historic centre, leaving the rest of the evening free for dinner or a walk through Vicenza.
Claudio Gioseffi, CC BY-SA 3.0 via Wikimedia Commons
Know before you go
Al chiaro di note runs on selected summer dates rather than as a daily programme. The 2026 series has concluded; check the Biblioteca Bertoliana or Comune di Vicenza for the next edition. Phone: +39 0444 578211 consulenza.bertoliana@comune.vicenza.it Bad weather Check the current event notice for any indoor alternative or programme change
About
WHY GO
At 7pm, when Vicenza is moving from late afternoon into aperitivo hour, the courtyard of an eighteenth century palace becomes a small open air concert hall. Al chiaro di note, In the Light of Music, brings piano, guitar and chamber ensembles to Palazzo Cordellina for a series of free summer concerts. The setting is intimate, a neoclassical courtyard behind the palace gates, right in the historic centre, with music beginning early enough to leave the rest of the evening entirely free for dinner. And there is a particularly Vicenza detail in front of the audience. Among the old stone and columns is a fountain covered with enormous English roses made from Bisazza glass mosaic.
THE ROSE FOUNTAIN IS ACTUALLY A COOLING MACHINE
The fountain was originally built in 2012 as part of the climate system for Palazzo Cordellina. Waterfalls and fine sprays dissipate the heat produced by the building’s air conditioning, allowing the historic frescoed rooms to be cooled without covering the palace with noisy external machinery. In 2026, Vicenza architect Carlo Dal Bianco redesigned its appearance using Spring rose, a dark mosaic scattered with oversized English roses, made with glass tesserae donated by Bisazza. The motif comes from Dal Bianco’s earlier design for the entrance of the Fondazione Bisazza outside Vicenza. So during the concert, one of the prettiest objects in the courtyard is quietly doing the air conditioning.
AN EIGHTEENTH CENTURY PALACE AT 7PM
Palazzo Cordellina was built between 1786 and 1790 for the Venetian jurist Carlo Cordellina, with a Palladian inspired design by Vicenza architect Ottone Calderari. Its interiors still preserve frescoes and decorations by Paolo Guidolini and Girolamo Ciesa, while the courtyard has become one of the summer spaces of Vicenza’s Biblioteca Bertoliana. The original Calderari project was actually far more ambitious than the palace eventually built. Fifteen surviving drawings document a grand complex planned for the site after Cordellina purchased land formerly occupied by the Jesuits in 1774.