Pigafetta House, Vicenza

THERE IS NO ROSE WITHOUT A THORN

(the motto in old French straddling the doorway reads:
IL NEST ROSE SANS ESPINE)

Vicenza is really Palladio's realm of the architect Palladio.  However, the house with this charming, ornate façade was home to Antonio Pigafetta during the early 16th century. 

Pigafetta's most notable exploit was to accompany Magellan in the first circumnavigation of the world (1519 to 1522).  He was both a friend of Magellan and a meticulous diarist of the journey; the latter died in a battle before completion of the journey.  Of the fleet of five ships and 240 men which had been sent on the mission, only one ship and 18 men (including Pigafetta) returned to Seville.

A mariner's life was then extremely dangerous!