Grumolo delle Abbadesse
Grumolo delle Abbadesse is a small farming municipality on the Vicenza plain, lying between the Bacchiglione and Tesina rivers, ju...
Updated 12 July 2026
The story
The story of Grumolo delle Abbadesse
A name born from the nuns' land reclamation
The place name Grumolo delle Abbadesse tells the town's history directly: shortly after the year 1000, Bishop Liudigerio I granted this land as a fief to the Benedictine nuns of the San Pietro monastery in Vicenza, the «abbadesse». Over two centuries the nuns transformed the marshy woodland beyond the Tesina stream into productive farmland, starting a system of reclamation and irrigation that has remained the basis of the local economy ever since. As early as the sixteenth century, around two hundred fields were already devoted to rice cultivation, made possible by the abundance of water guaranteed by canals dug in the preceding centuries. It is a story of a built, not a natural, landscape: every field and ditch still bears the mark of that ancient labour.
The rice of Grumolo, a Slow Food Presidium
The product that has made Grumolo delle Abbadesse known beyond its province is its rice, in particular the Vialone Nano variety, a semi-fine grain, small and roundish, rich in starch and highly absorbent, the very quality that makes it ideal for the «all'onda» risotto typical of Venetian cuisine. Grown exclusively in the old Abbadesse territory between the Bacchiglione and Tesina rivers, this rice was recognised as a Slow Food Presidium in 2002 and is also protected today by the municipal De.Co. mark. Production remains small-scale, tied to a handful of local farms and historic rice mills, and every autumn the town celebrates the harvest with the Festa del Riso, a chance to taste the local product directly from the people who grow it.
The countryside between the Bacchiglione and the Tesina
The landscape of Grumolo delle Abbadesse is typical of the low Vicenza plain: fields of rice, maize and forage, rows of poplars along the canals, scattered farmhouses and small rural courtyards. The Bacchiglione river marks the western edge of the municipal territory, while the Tesina stream flows further east towards its confluence with the Brenta. It is a flat, orderly countryside, without major scenic landmarks, but capable of striking views especially in spring, when the flooded rice paddies mirror the sky like sheets of water. Anyone who enjoys landscape photography or cycling along the dirt roads on the embankments will find an intact rural environment here, still largely untouched by mass tourism.
Rural life and local traditions
In all honesty, Grumolo delle Abbadesse is a working farming town more than a tourist attraction: most families still have a direct or indirect link to the land, and the historic rice mills remain an economic and identity reference point for the community. There are no major monuments in the centre, but the parish church and a number of well-preserved rural courtyards still tell a story of stable, continuous settlement over the centuries. Social life revolves around village festivals, the Festa del Riso and local association events, in a setting where tourism, when it happens, is mostly food-and-wine related and tied to discovering the area's farming supply chains.
A short distance from Vicenza
One of Grumolo delle Abbadesse's strengths is its closeness to Vicenza, only a few kilometres away and easily reached by car or bicycle along country roads. Visitors staying here can spend a day exploring Vicenza's Palladian historic centre, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, with the Basilica Palladiana, the Teatro Olimpico and the city's villas, then return in the evening to the quiet of the countryside. It is a combination that works well for slow travel, allowing urban culture and rural life to be enjoyed within the same stay, without having to choose between the two.
Experiences not to miss
- Visit to a historic rice mill and tasting of Grumolo's Vialone Nano rice
- Attending the Festa del Riso rice festival in autumn
- Cycling along the embankments between the Bacchiglione and Tesina rivers
- Photographing the flooded rice paddies in spring
- Day trip to the UNESCO historic centre of Vicenza
Routes · Trovido Route
