Veneto

Venice gets the attention, but the Veneto region behind it — the Euganean Hills, the wine country of Valpolicella and Soave, the walled city of Montagnana, the Palladian villas standing in the plain like arguments for the ideal relationship between architecture and landscape — is where the region's real depth lives. Verona in winter, when the arena stands empty and the restaurants around Piazza Erbe are full of locals, is a different city from the operatic summer version. The Dolomite foothills in September, when the light turns amber in the late afternoon and the prosecco harvest is three weeks from finishing, are worth building a week around.Our Veneto coverage treats the region as the complex, layered whole it is — not a backdrop to Venice, but a destination in its own right.