Rovigo

For Ludovico Ariosto, author of Orlando Furioso, it is "the land whose rose production gave it its pleasant name in Greek"; for everyone it is Rovigo or the City of Roses.

Legend has it that the area was colonised by the Achaeans, under the guidance of the hero Diomedes. 
Of early Venetian origin, Rovigo became a Roman garrison. In 844 it hosted the bishopric of Adria. The Bishop erected the fortifications against the threat of the barbarians. The powerful Estensi family controlled the city from 1117 to 1482, when sovereignty passed to the Republic of Venice. The Estensi built the Torre Donà, one of the highest built in Italy during the Middle Ages.

Things to see:

• The Tempio della Beata Vergine del Soccorso [Temple of Our Lady of Salvation] (known as La Rotonda),
• The Oratorio della Beata Vergine di Pompei [Oratory of Our Lady of Pompeii] (or Church of the Fosse),
• Palazzina Minelli (or Palazzina Gotica).