Introducing Padua
The city of St Anthony and home to Italy’s second-oldest university, Padua (Padova to the locals) is also the site of one of the most remarkable works of late Gothic art (prefiguring the Renaissance) in Northern Italy. Just 37km west of Venice, this dynamic student town, with its arcaded streets and fetching medieval centre, deserves at least a day trip from the lagoon city. Wander bustling markets in the old town centre, admire Giotto’s masterpiece of painting here and contemplate St Anthony’s tongue.
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The Veneti tribes of the northeast established a town here even before the Romans arrived, but Patavium was all but wiped off the map by Lombard invaders in AD 602. The city grew again as a powerful and wealthy city-state in the 13th and 14th centuries under the Carrara clan, who set up the studium (university) but who were also involved in incessant skirmishes with neighbours. Venice brought an end to this when it occupied Padua and its territories in 1405.
Last updated: Feb 17, 2009
