Explorer Padoue

The Palazzo della Ragione is Padua's medieval law court and town hall, begun in 1172 and completed in 1219, between Piazza delle Erbe and Piazza della Frutta. Its upper hall, the Salone, is about 81 m long and covered with 15th-century astrological frescoes, with a large wooden horse from 1466. Market stalls fill the ground-floor arcades.

Padua Cathedral, dedicated to Santa Maria Assunta, is the seat of the Bishop of Padua on Piazza Duomo. The present Renaissance church is the third on the site: it was begun in 1551 to plans by Andrea della Valle and Agostino Righetto and took two centuries to complete. The Romanesque baptistery beside it is decorated with frescoes by Giusto de' Menabuoi.

Caffè Pedrocchi is a historic café in central Padua, opened in 1831 in a Neoclassical building designed by Giuseppe Jappelli for Antonio Pedrocchi, with an adjoining neo-Gothic wing known as the Pedrocchino. Its ground-floor rooms are named after their colours, and the upper floor holds period rooms in different styles beside the city's Museum of the Risorgimento.

The Anatomical Theatre of Padua is the first permanent anatomical theatre, built in 1594–95 inside Palazzo del Bo, the historic seat of the University of Padua, at the initiative of the anatomist Girolamo Fabrici d'Acquapendente. Six steep tiers of carved walnut railings ring the dissection table. It is seen on the guided tours of the palace.

Palazzo del Bo has been the seat of the University of Padua since 1493 and still houses its rectorate and law school. Guided tours lead through the Renaissance Old Courtyard lined with student coats of arms, the Great Hall, the Sala dei Quaranta with Galileo's lectern, and the anatomical theatre of 1594; weekend tours add the rooms designed by Gio Ponti.

The Scrovegni Chapel is a small brick church in Padua, commissioned by the banker Enrico Scrovegni and consecrated in 1305. Giotto and his workshop covered its walls and vault with frescoes of the lives of the Virgin and Christ and a Last Judgement. It is part of the UNESCO site of Padua's 14th-century fresco cycles; visits are booked in timed slots.

The Basilica of Saint Anthony of Padua, known locally as "il Santo", holds the tomb of the Franciscan saint, who died in 1231. Built from about 1232 to 1310, it mixes Romanesque, Byzantine and Gothic forms, with domes modelled on St Mark's in Venice. Donatello's equestrian statue of Gattamelata stands on the square in front.

Prato della Valle is an elliptical square of about 88,000 m² in Padua. Laid out from 1775 on the initiative of Andrea Memmo, it has a green central island, the Isola Memmia, ringed by a canal lined with 78 statues of figures linked to the city. The Abbey of Santa Giustina stands on its southeast side.

The Botanical Garden of Padua was founded in 1545 by the Republic of Venice as a garden of medicinal plants for the university, and it is the oldest academic botanical garden still in its original location. A circular wall encloses the Renaissance beds, and the newer Biodiversity Garden greenhouses stand beside it. It is a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

The Abbey of Santa Giustina is a Benedictine monastery on Prato della Valle in Padua, on the site where a church over the tomb of the martyr Justina stood by the 6th century. The present basilica was begun in 1501 and consecrated in 1606. It holds works by Paolo Veronese and relics venerated as those of Saint Luke and Saint Matthias.

Villa dei Vescovi is a Renaissance villa on a hill at Luvigliano in the Euganean Hills, built from 1535 to 1542 as a summer residence for the bishops of Padua to designs by Giovanni Maria Falconetto. Its loggias and rooms are frescoed by Lambert Sustris; owned by FAI since 2005, it stands among vineyards and a walled orchard.