Padova Things to Do

Through The Heroes Door, and past the staircase of Humanity and Culture, if you walk forward, you will find yourself in The New Courtyard (as opposed to the 16th Century Old Courtyard)

This narrow courtyard was renovated and designed by Ettore Fagiuoli (1884-1961).

Its' main feature is the white marble relief, which features figures of soldiers and men- It is a celebration of the warring spirit of the Paduan students in a style typical of the Fascist period, with a Latin quotation (by Concetto Marchesi- a rector and Latin scholar) underneath.

This was completed by Attilio Selva in 1939.

The Quotation reads -
HIC VIVUNT HIC VIGENT HIC RENOVANTUR IN AEVUM TOT BELLORUM ANIMAE,

Which translates into English as-

'In this place, the souls of those who died in so many wars are restored for ever to life, valor and youth'.

In this courtyard, against the wall opposite this relief is The 'Resistance and Freedom Monument-

This work is by J. Kounellis, and it was unveiled on 29th May 1995- for the Universities celebration of the 50th anniversary of the Liberation.

It's dedicated to 3 great Masters of this University - Rector Concetto Marchesi, a Communist, his Prorector - Egidio Meneghetti -a liberal-socialist and the Catholic Professor Ezio Franceschini.

It symbolises 'the unity of purpose reached in dramatic circumstances between these men of very different political ideas in a common fight for freedom'.

I'm afraid that I didn't realise that these slats of wood were a monument - I assumed it was just an exposed wooden wall

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I was quite impressed by these paintings.

I'd entered through the gateway, not knowing at the time that this was the University- I was just enjoying wandering around.

This staircase leads to the Rectors rooms and was designed by Giovanni Ponti.

The frescoes on the walls are entitled 'L'umanita e la cultura (Mankind and Culture), and were painted in 1941. They depict the birth of humanity and of human culture.

The left wall contains scenes of Chaos, Adam and Eve, the invention of fire and the development of science.

At the foot of the stairs, the young student enthusiastically begins to climb, guided by his master.
Sciences, developing and stemming from each other, are depicted by paintings rising up the walls.

By the time the student has reached the top he is old, and disconcerted by the infinite possibilities for human knowledge.

This is depicted by the painting of books falling from his hands, and a 16th century Latin motto "anchora imparo"

I found this light and airy staircase to be quite impressive.

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Entering through 'The Heroes Entrance' on the left side, at the foot of the splendid painted staircase is this marble statue

This is the last work of the sculptor Arturo Martini. The statue is dedicated to Primo Visentin, who was nicknamed Massaccio.

He was a partisan commander, who was a graduate of Padova University, and was decorated with a gold medal for his work and his contribution in the Resistance movement.

The statue depicts Palinurus, Aeneas' helmsman, who died within sight of the coastline of Italy, after a painful journey from Troy.

Visentin similarly died at the end of the war, when there was a glimmer of liberation of Italy- the cause he had fought and died for

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This is the seat of the ancient university.

The university of Padova is the second oldest in Italy. It was founded by a group of students and teachers who came from the university of Bologna.

Palazzo del Bo was originally three houses built in the XII century and belonged to a wealty man. He gave these houses to a buther as a gift. Later this butcher turned the houses into an inn that had a oax skull outside as a logo. Hence the name "Bo". It means oax (bue, from the Latin Bove). The main works of the university took place between 1542 ad 1601. Between 1920 and 1940 additions were made to the building.

Entry to the palace is permitted only on a guided tour. Inside you can see the Sala dei Quaranta with forty portaits of foreigners students and the desk from where Galileo Galilei taught mathematics and physics from 1592 to 1610. After this room you will be guided into the Aula Magna where you can sit and admire a big room decorated with paintings and frescoes. Then there is a room wit the anatomical theater. It is an elliptical structure with six balconies. Up to 300 students could stand on these to watch the teacher dissecting bodies.

This huge palace was built between 1172 and 1218 to serve as law court and council chamber. What we see today dates from 1306 to 1309. The building has a great hall on the upper floor called "Salone" (lenght is 815 meters, breadth 27 m. heights 24m.) This hall was decorated with frescoes by Giotto with astrological themes, but fire destroyed this work in 1420. Then the hall was rebuilt and turned into a single room. Originally there were three. In 1756 a whirlwind damaged the frescoes and torn away the roof almost completely. The palace was restored again.

Inside the palace you can see also a big wooden horse built in 1466 and a stone called Pietra del Vituperio. Insolvent debtors had to sit on this stone in underwear three times before beign exiled. They had to say "cedo bonis" (I give away everything). If they dared to go back to Padova and they were caught they had to suffer the same retribution and three buckets of water were poured on their heads.

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The Prato della Valle is an enormous piazza that was begun in 1767 after the marshes were drained. It consists of a central island surrounded by a canal with four bridges and 78 statues of illustrious men of Padova. It is the largest square in Europe.

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The Basilica della Sant'Antonio is an extraordinary architectural Gothic Byzantine work, with seven cupolas and bell towers resembling minarets. It contains 2 more magnificent works by Donatelo, the main altar with stories of the miracles of St Antonio and the 12 bronze reliefs with scenes from the Old Testament.

In front of the Basillica San Antonio is this impressive bronze statue by Donatello, which is considered to be one of the best examples of his work.

The statue is of Condottiere Erasmo da Narni, one of the Italian Renaissances mercenaries, later he was to become dictator of Padua in 1437.

He was nicknamed Gattamelato -' The honeyed cat'!

Following his death in 1443, his heirs requested Donatello to come to Padua (from Florence-his birthplace) to create a suitable memorial.

The statue took 10 years to complete - he was also working on the interior of the Basilica, creating the choir panels and many statues at the same time.

It was completed in 1450. Donatello left Padua 3 years later.

This equestrian statue, was the first such work in bronze to be undertaken since the Roman Empire. It sits high above a tall stone base.

I thought that I'd read somewhere that the position of the front legs were symbolic on equestrian statues, in that if both front legs are raised, the rider was killed in battle, one raised leg meant they died of their injuries later, and all 4 legs on the ground indicated dying of other causes.

Apparently this isn't true - just one of those co-incidence theories.

I've also read since, that there was some thought that the way the horse was facing indicated death in battle (North facing) and facing South meant death later from injuries.