Vicentia was settled by the Italic Euganei and then by the Palaeo-Veneti in the 2nd-3rd century BC, from whom it was taken by the Gauls. The Romans conquered it to the latter in 157 BC, giving the city the name of Vicetia or Vincentia ("victorious")
The Vicentini received the Roman citizenship in 49 BC. The city had some importance as a hub on the important road from Mediolanum to Aquileia], but was overshadowed by its neighbor Patavium (Padua). Little survives of the Roman city, but three of the bridges across the Bacchiglione and Retrone rivers are of Roman origin, and isolated arches of a Roman aqueduct exist outside Porta Sta. Croce.
During the decline of the Western Roman Empire, Heruls, Vandals, Alaric and Huns laid the area to waste, but the city recovered after the Ostrogoth conquest in 489. It was also an important Lombard and then Frank centre. Numerous Benedictine monasteries were built in Vicenza area, which, in particular, dried the lake that once was located north of Vicenza.
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