Costozza - fraz. di Longare

Costozza is situated on the road that skirts the eastern Berici Hills and links Vicenza to the Basso Vicentino area, just beyond Longare: a treasure trove of architecture, art and history out of all proportion to its small size. Churches, villas and spectacular gardens filled with statues bear witness to an incredible past. Since ancient times, this district was famous for the quality of its local wines and for the quarrying of the white limestone, known as Costozza stone, which was hewn both from deep inside the mountain and from the ‘priare’, or open-cast quarries. Vestiges of the centuries-old mining activity, in addition to the sheer rock walls that form the backdrop to the village, can be seen in the caves where another typical local product is grown: poplar mushrooms. These tunnels, artificial or of karst origin, form a system famous for its extent and for being connected to ventiducts, underground tunnels that were used to bring fresh air in summer and warm air in winter into the interiors of the villas and their cellars. This is a true ante litteram air conditioning system, perfected in the 16th century and also studied by Palladio. It was also utilised for the so-called Scherzo di Costozza (Costozza Trick): when the gates were suddenly opened, the illustrious guests shivered in the gusts of cold air. Legend has it that Galileo Galilei, a guest of the Counts Trento, was also a victim of this in the late 16th century: in a letter, he described his time in Padua as ‘the best eighteen years of my entire life’, but attributed all the ailments of his old age to that episode.