Ontdek Padua

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 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.