• LOCATION: Abano

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Abano is considered a totally unique tourist destination. Indeed, all of the larger hotels now have a well within their own grounds that allows them to operate as independent spa centres. 
At the entrance to the town sits the Duomo(cathedral church), opened in 1971 but restructured more than once and the recent Square of Sunshine and Peace (Piazza del Sole e della Pace), with a spectacular sundial in multi-coloured marble covering an area of 300 square metres. A little further on is the start of the large and tree-lined boulevard, the Viale delle Terme, a veritable mainstay for the city, lined with shops and stores, coffee bars and hotels. The subsequent Via Pietro d’Abano leads to Montirone, a modest hill on which flowed a hot spring once used in Roman times.
On the side of the entrance, formed by an early twentieth-century Corinthian colonnade is the Picture Gallery (Pinacoteca) and the Municipal Gallery, both very pleasant places to visit. Returning to the Viale and taking Via Monteortone, after 2km you’ll arrive at the hamlet of Montortone, a thermal spa centre in Roman times. It renowned for its Sanctuary to the Blessed Virgin Mary that stands on the precise spot where, according to legend, Pietro Falco came across a miraculous image of the Virgin Mary in the first half of the fifteenth-century that healed him of some very old wounds. Inside it is possible to admire frescoes by Jacopo da Montagnana (and his school).