The best traffic-free bike rides around Fossalta Di Piave

icon contact us icon get inspired logo 0 Ernest Hemingway, a Venetian by adoption 5 Hemingway’s favorite places in Veneto Index 1. Schio, ‘one of the most beautiful places on earth’ 2. The yellow house in Fossalta di Piave 3. Venice, the Gritti Hotel, Harry’s Bar and the Locanda Cipriani on the island of Torcello 4. The casoni of Caorle 5. Cortina D’Ampezzo It is no exaggeration to call Ernest Hemingway a Venetian by adoption: 'a boy from the lower Piave, I am an old fan of Veneto and it is here that I will leave my heart,' he used to say about himself. Arriving in our region in 1918 as a volunteer for the International Red Cross, initially stationed in Schio, he narrowly escaped death on the Piave, where he was seriously wounded in the leg. From then on, he remained forever linked to our territory, where he was treated, fell in love, and returned several times throughout his life. What are Hemingway’s favorite places in Veneto? At least five cities remained in his heart and played an important role in his personal and artistic journey. Let’s discover them together. Ernest Hemingway 1. Schio, ‘one of the most beautiful places on earth’ Hemingway arrived in Veneto in 1918, sent to Schio shortly after coming of age due to its proximity to Monte Pasubio and Vallarsa, theaters of the Great War. He was young, cocky, looking for fun, girls, and good drinks, frequenting the locals in the taverns and local inns. Moments of joy and, despite the war, of lightheartedness, which imprinted themselves on his heart. He would later write, ‘There was a garden in Schio, with a wisteria-covered wall, where we drank beer on hot evenings, under a moon that bombarded us and cast all sorts of shadows with the plane tree that stretched over the tables.’ These words date back to 1922; Hemingway had recently married and was working as a journalist in Toronto. He was in Italy to interview Mussolini and returned to Schio to show his wife what he remembered as ‘one of the most beautiful places on earth.’ But the disappointment was bitter; he no longer recognized ‘his’ Schio, rebuilt after the war, which seemed to have lost all the verve and charm that had captivated him. If there is one place that forever marked the bond between Hemingway and Veneto, it is Fossalta di Piave, in the Province of Venice, where the writer was moved to follow the Piave front. The evening of July 8, 1918, around 11 p.m., an Austrian howitzer hit an Italian stronghold on the banks of the Piave, in the Buso Burato area. One dead and two wounded, one of whom was Hemingway himself. The explosion stunned him, but although wounded in the leg, he had the strength to shoulder the other wounded man and climb the embankment. Just at that moment, a flash lit up the night: it was a flare fired by the Austro-Hungarians to check the effect of the shot. A snapshot was indelibly imprinted in the writer’s mind: that of a ruined house nearby, the famous Casa Gialla (Yellow House), which we will find in his books as a symbol of anguish.

Magical place suspended over the water among flamingos and a multitude of other birds

Unmissable and fascinating, especially when there is no wind and flamingos are present

Monotonous when there are fields but becomes magical when you reach the North Lagoon of Venice

Panoramic view of the northern lagoon

Hemingway's famous yellow house

The pontoon bridge from a particular angle

Ernest Hemingway was in Fossalta di Piave on July 8, 1918, when an explosion lit up the night yellow, and by extension, this country house, before wounding him in the leg. The "yellow house" remained forever etched in his memory and often appears in his books, linked to war stories.