Let's travel together #276 - Porta San Tomaso and Ponte delle Università (Treviso, Italy)

During the trip I along with my family had last year with the destination to Venice, we decided to book our days in Treviso, which is just 30 km away from the city we were mostly interested in, also taking it as an opportunity to see a bit more of Italy than the most popular parts of it.

While we only had 3 days in total properly dedicated to traveling since our flights compromised two of the other days, we decided that it was best to begin with Venice on the first day, the islands surrounding this on the 2nd day, ending up with an entire day for Treviso which would make our adrenaline level slow down for a bit, not depending on trains anymore since we were literally a few steps away from the place that represented home for us.

So along with many places seen in the village that for me looks more like a tiny city based on the touristic attractions it has, as well as the economy and all the businesses going on, we did see plenty of cool spots that unfortunately don't enjoy the same popularity as those from Venice, but which felt a bit closer to our explorer taste that allowed us not to run in crowds of tourists every 50 meters.

One of the places we saw was Porta San Tomaso which we had our first interaction with when we landed but due to the darkness outside we couldn't really enjoy all its details and beauty.
Since we were still about to find its history, the energy that I felt at the beginning was that of familiarity since the gate was very similar to one of those I've seen when exploring Alba Carolina Fortress from my country, Romania.
Even though I explore foreign countries for new things, cultures, and places to see, I've always found it very interesting to run into those spots that make you feel closer to home than you actually are because you realize that the world is not as big as you think judging by these aspects.
Additionally, the gate is quite similar to arches of triumph that are already quite famous in many countries of Europe. But Porta San Tomaso is just one of the three such gates in Treviso, marking itself as the most imposing and nice-looking one that dates for almost 500 years.
The decorations that can be seen on and around the gate are made of Istrian stone that reflects the pattern of the classic triumphal arches without receiving the name of a proper Arc de Triomphe.

Like in the other cases, this gate used to make the connection between two important roads in town, but which ended up now allowing car access through this place serving as a route for the tramway. The new use only lasted a few years until it was reworked and ended up remaining a gate that can only be accessed by feet exclusively dedicated to pedestrians.

The imposing and beautiful side of the gate represents the backside of it while the front one is a lot more minimalistic making you barely realize that you are crossing such a piece of art that can only be admired from the other side.
Yet a situation that I don't think I've ever met so far being used to see the beauty presented on the front side but considering that the back side is a lot more visible from the street than the front side which you can only reach when walking along all kind of terraces and pubs, I think it's a pretty good excuse to have everything on the opposite.

The architectural design is not the single difference between the two sides of the gate but also the text located on the top having the name of this written in Venice on the back side and the same text written in Latin on the front side, creating a parallel between the aristocratic culture from Venice and the rural one that belongs to Treviso.

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The name of the gate refers to a nearby church dedicated to St. Thomas of Canterbury which was destroyed, but the name only came out a bit later since it was originally known as „Porta Mazzini” or „Porta Nana” that supposed to represent the name of the one who built it.

Along with the beautiful details of the gate that will make you stop and stare for a while, there is also the Botteniga River which completes perfectly the whole scenery and does a great job keeping nature close even in the heart of the rural/urban life.

Walking just 750 meters away from the gate we ended up in a place that once again felt familiar to us since I lived in Bucharest for a couple of years and the scenery seemed similar to Dambovita River that makes you take a break from traffic noise right in the middle of the city!
Even though it sounds like a cliche, the reality is that small things like this one can improve a lot the mental health of those who feel like sticking closer to nature even when they are not able to travel for this purpose.
A similar effect we felt from Ponte delle Università that is linking the Garibaldi Riviera to the Santa Margherita Riviera.
Despite the thing that the bridge is located right in front of a university, this one connects the complex of the former civil hospital of San Leonardo and the former Military District making it an important and respected place on this part of the village.

The bridge was built a lot later than the gate, happening in 2006 which represents a whole new century with lots of changes in terms of architectural designs and decorations, but somehow, it still kept its origins not bothering too much the overall impression of the village that is looking absolutely stunning from many points of view.

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Just like in the case of Porta San Tomaso we reserved a few minutes to spend at the bridge too, looking at the water, the fish swimming by, but also to fill our hearts with a new energy that now while writing this post, I do miss.

It also represented one of the last things we were going to see before having our flight the next day, so I guess the nostalgia was already kicking in, but I simply love these moments when you don't have the pressure of time anymore and can sit for a while to admire every single detail of a place that who knows if you'll ever see again.

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Treviso is a small town in Italy that is more known for having the airport that brings lots of tourists to its territory when being interested in visiting Venice. Unfortunately, a big part of the tourists who lend here continue their journey to Venice, not being aware of the beauty Treviso can offer too, especially since we are talking about a place less populated by tourists where you can get to feel the authenticity of this part of Italy without being bothered by crowds of visitors.

^{Gabriela Travels is the FOUNDER of "Festival Mania" who started this community from the passion of attending various festivals and with the purpose of encouraging more people to explore festivals all around the world and share their experiences. At the same time, Gabriela is an independent Graphic Design Freelancer since 2019 completing over 600+ orders in this time and collaborating with various businesses and people from all over the globe. Additionally, Gabriela has her own corner on the internet since 2017 where she writes various articles for her blog, the most popular being the travel ones (260+ articles written on this field), but also abording other topics as well, like game reviews, movie and series reviews, photography posts, cooking recipes and more, boosting the total number of articles written to 550+ blog posts. Gabriela is also a gamer since she was 11 years old and gaming remains one of her biggest passions along with traveling, editing, cooking, and doing various sports activities.}

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