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PADUA (Padova)
Probably better known as the city of St. Anthony or as the economic capital of the Veneto, Padova is one of the most important Art Cities in Italy. Its face is marked by 3000 years of history. Founded as a fisherman’s village, in the 4th century BC. It became the most important center of the Venetians.
Allied to the Romans against the Gauls and since 45 BC. A municipium, Patavium was one of the most flourishing towns of the Roman Empire. Unfortunately, due to the destruction of the town by the Longobards in 602, we only have few remnants of the Roman Era: the ruins of the great Amphitheater, some bridges and the precious evidences that are still preserved at theTown Museum.
It is a period of extraordinary economic and cultural ardor that left an indelible mark on the town: the Mediaveval City Walls, the great civil and religious buildings , the foundation of the university (1222), the second in Italy, which attracts masters and students from all of Europe. The art panorama is domiated by the figure of Giotto, leaving in Padua his masterpiece, the decoration of the Scrovegni Chapel; but the grat Florentine master is followed by Guariento, Altichiero, Giusto de’Menabuoi, who leave wonderful cycles of frescoes.
In the 16th century, under the government of the Serene Republic, Padova knows a great renewal. A formidable ring of walls and bulkwards that establishes the definitive urban shape surrounds the town. New buildings and solemn churches rise up; the University goes through a period of great splendor: Galilee, amongst other, teaches here.
The magic scenography of prato della Valle rounds off, at the end of the 18th century, the four centuries of Venetian domination. Padova passes to Austria until the annexation to the Kingdom of Italy (1866).
In spite of the destruction due to wars and of some disrespectful of the environmental goods interventions, Padova conserves almost uninjured its unique urban structure: a tangle of narrow streets with arcades and of monumental squares, of humble houses and of imposing buildings. This compact organism guards many wonderful treasures. To the clever visitor the task is discovering them
This ancient Episcopal and university town lies on the banks of the river Bacchiglione. Navigable channels links the city to the Po River and the Brenta River connects the city to the Lagoon of Venice. Padua is full of traces of various periods, from the early Venetian and Roman times to the Middle Ages and Renaissance. Yet, the chief attraction of Padua is the Basilica of Sant’Antonio, a place of worship for pilgrims all over the world. The building goes back to the 13 th century and combines harmoniously a Romanesque Façade crowned by a small bell-tower, a Gothic ambulatory with radial chapels, Byzantine domes covered with lead and slender turrets of Moorish style. The interior contains a great number of remarkable works of art, among which frescoes of the 14 th century by Altichiero and Giusto de Menabuoi, and sculptures by the most important representative of early Florentine Renaissance Donatello. The Scuola del Santo opposite the basilica is well worth visiting because of the frescoes by the young Tiziano Vecellio. Another monument of particular interest is the chapel of S. Maria Annunciata, once chapel of the noble family of the Scrovegni, which is an annex of the complex museum of the Eremitani. In the interior we find Giotto’s famous cycle of frescoes depicting the life of the Virgin Mary, the life of Christ and the Last Judgment. The frescoes were realized between 1303 and 1305 and are still in a wonderful state.
Nearby, facing the remains of a Roman amphitheatre stands the church of the Eremitani. Here in the Cappella Ovetari, fragments of the first of Andrea Mantegnaas cycles can be admired, where as the Cappella Sanguinacci contains fragments of frescoes by Giusto de’ Menabuoi.
The former convent buildings today house the Municipal Museum. Its archeological section exhibits notable finds of the early Venetian and Roman periods. The Pinacoteca has the wooden cross by Giotto, on display that originally had its place in the Cappella degli Scrovegni. Works by Guariento, Squarcione, Padovanino, Jacopo Tintoretto, Guido Reni, G.B. Piazzetta and G. G. Tiepolo are also to be found in this museum. Another site that, is not to be missed is the cathedral (Duomo) especially its Battistero with frescoes by Giusto de’ Menabuoi. The “Palazzo del Bo” seat of the old university, with its Anatomical Theatre, the lectern of Galileo Galilei, its Great Hall ASula Magna), its ancient courtyard, and the famous Botanical Gardens founded in 1545 recall the tradition of the learned Padua. In the surrounding areas of Padua a visitor can explore towns going back to early Venetian period like Este and Montagnana, and fortified or walled towns like Cittadella, Monselice, Piove di Sacco, Camposampiero that date from the Middles Ages.