‘Town of one hundred horizons,’ wrote Carducci the poet. A typical hill-top town of carefully-preserved architecture, it predates the Roman era. Famous residents include Queen Caterina Cornaro who exchanged Cyprus for it; Eleanora Duse the actress; Freya Stark, late veteran travel writer; and Robert Browning, much of whose poetry it inspired. ‘Pippa’ of Browning’s Pippa Passes was a weaver here. Browning’s son Pen founded the Embroidery School to help employment. Via R. Browning, with its shops and ateliers under Gothic arcades, leads to central double piazzas where lively antiques markets are held on the second Saturday and Sunday of each month.

Observe the Zen fountain and, crowning the hill, the Rocca which was first a Roman fort and then Queen Caterina’s palace. Inside it is the Eleanora Duse theatre. Behind the 15thC Loggia del Capitano’s frescoed facade is the civic museum (www.museoasolo.it). Important paintings of the Venetian school are also in the cathedral, on top of ancient Roman baths. Asolo, the most interesting place for miles around, is said to have inspired the verb asolare, to amuse oneself at random in the open air.