The Ancient City of Padua

Padua – or Padova as it is in Italian – was founded in 1183 BC. So it’s old. Older even than Rome. And like the nation’s capital, a lot of Padua’s rich architectural and cultural heritage survived through the centuries.

In its day, Padua was an intellectual, artistic and economic powerhouse. Today it’s a lively city where mediaeval towers and Renaissance marketplaces meet stylish cafes and trendy boutiques. There’s a lot to like about Padua.

Though it's only about 40km west of Venice, many visitors skip Padua altogether in favour of its better-known neighbour.

But Padua has a lot to offer, including that beautiful mediaeval and Renaissance architecture.

The astronomical clock in Piazza dei Signori dates from 1428.

In many ways, Padua reminds us of Bologna.

 

Certainly the networks of arcades and porticoes are common to both.

And there's no shortage of excellent bars and restaurants here either - in this part of Italy you find cicchetti, small bites of deliciousness such as salty anchovies, tiny crostini slathered with creamy baccalá, panini, potato croquettes ... we could go on ... 🙂

But Padua is best-known for a number of 'big ticket' attractions.

The Basilica di Sant'Antonio, patron saint of the city.

The Prato della Valle - at 90,000 square metres, it’s Italy's largest piazza (though technically it's oval-shaped, not square).

The piazza is surrounded by statues of the city's famous residents.

The University of Padua was founded in 1222 ...

... by a group of break-away students and teachers from Bologna University (which had been established around 130 years earlier).

The university boasts many famous alumni, including English physician William Harvey who, in 1628, described the circulation of blood.

The university has also had many prestigious teachers.

In the late 1500s, Galileo taught maths and astronomy to Padua Uni's med students.

This is the lectern from which Galileo delivered his lectures.

Here's a model of the institution's famous anatomical theatre. Built in 1595 in the shape of an inverted cone, the theatre allowed 200 students to stand on the balconies and view autopsies.

And this is the theatre today - visitors are permitted only onto the theatre's small working floor (where the autopsies were conducted). Not quite the grand tour of the anatomical theatre we'd been hoping for. 🙂

And then there's the Scrovegni Chapel and the extraordinary Giotto frescoes.

This cycle of works - scenes from the Old and New Testaments - is considered a masterpiece of western art.

It was here, in these frescoes, that Giotto introduced emotion into the subjects of his painting - the first time it had been done.

The impact of seeing these extraordinary works is hard to describe.

We'd visited the Scrovegni Chapel previously - and couldn't wait to return. The Giotto frescoes alone are reason enough to visit this lovely city.