Prato della Valle <\/b>
A well-known puzzle about Padua speaks of it as the city of \u201ca saint without a name, a meadow [prato<\/i>] without grass, and a caf\u00e9 without doors\u201d. The saint is St. Anthony \u2013 known simply as Il Santo<\/i> \u2013 the grassless \u2018meadow\u2019 is Prato della Valle, and the caf\u00e9 is Pedrocchi\u2019s, which \u2018had no doors\u2019 because it was open day and night. Prato della Valle, which is the starting-point for this itinerary (map: 1) is remarkable both for its size (after Red Square in Moscow, it is the largest public square in Europe) and its layout: a central island surrounded by a canal crossed by four bridges and lined on either bank by statues of illustrious inhabitants of the city.
\tIn the background, on the far side of the square, is the Basilica of St. Giustina (map: 2), which is dedicated to a Christian martyr who is one of the city\u2019s four patron saints.<\/p>\n
From the Botanical Garden to the Piazza del Santo<\/b>
Passing along the south side of Prato della Valle, you come to the turning into Via Belludi, which leads up to the Basilica of St. Anthony (which on this itinerary you visit later). Going a little way up the street, you come to a turning on the right (map: 5), which leads to the oldest \u2018Garden of Simples\u2019 in Europe. After your visit to the Botanical Garden, continue up a street that is named after it (Via Orto Botanico), along a canal that was once used to deliver supplies to the Franciscan monks of St, Anthony\u2019s and the Benedictine monks of St. Giustina\u2019s. Having come back into Via Belludi, turn right and you are in Piazza del Santo (map: 3). For almost 800 years the Basilica of St. Anthony (map: 3) has been a place of pilgrimage; it has also attracted numerous artists, who have adorned it with their work. One of the greatest to work here was Donatello, and his famous equestrian monument to Erasmo da Narni (known as Il Gattamelata<\/i>) stands in the open space in front of the Basilica; it is one of the symbols of the city. To the right of the Basilica, as you are looking at it, are the Oratory of St. George, the small Scoletta del Santo (map: 4) and the Museo al <\/i>Santo; within its cloisters is the Museo Antoniano.
\tAfter your visit to these places, you can stroll though one of the most interesting old quarters of the city to Palazzo Zabarella; alternatively, you can get to the palazzo by taking the \u201cDiretto Piazze\u201d bus, which stops outside the Basilica of St. Anthony.<\/p>\n
From Via Cesarotti to Via San Francesco<\/b>
If you take the street to the left side of the basilica, as you are looking at it, you enter Via Cesarotti. At number 7 in this street is a building that is now used by the armed forces but which up to 1890 was home to the Collegio Pratense, founded in 1394 by Cardinal Pileo da Prato for impoverished students. Various sources say that the great architect Andrea Palladio \u2013 probably after his numerous absences from work had led to him being struck off the payroll by Vicenza City Council \u2013 enrolled his younger son here so that he could continue with his studies at the University.
\tAt 37 Via Cesarotti stands the Cornaro Loggia and Odeo (map : 6). Commissioned as a dedicated theatre and music venue by Alvise Cornaro, a wealthy patron of the arts, this was where Ruzzante, a local dialect playwright, put on his irreverent comedies; it was also a place for the performance of music and the recitation of poetry. <\/p>\n
Contrada Antenore<\/b>
At the end of Via Cesarotti you come to Via San Francesco; turning right you would continue towards Porta Pontecorvo (map: 7), while turning left you walk back up to the city centre (the Canton del Gallo and the pedestrian area). Once known as the Contrada Antenore<\/i> [Antenore Neighbourhood], this whole district is home to numerous artistic and historical treasures, many of which have just recently been restored or are currently undergoing restoration.
\tWalking up past Via Galilei and the complex formed by the church and hospital of San Francesco (map: 8), you come to the crossroads with Via del Santo, opposite which stands Palazzo Zabarella (map: 9), now a venue for internationally-prestigious exhibitions.
\tA little further on and Via San Francesco comes to an end in Piazza Antenore (map: 10). Here you can find the aedicula that houses what was once claimed to be the tomb of Antenor, a hero of the Enetoi of Paphlagonia, whose men fought with Troy against the Greeks but managed to escape the fate of so many when that city was put to the torch.
\tIf you are tired, you can, at the end of Piazza Antenore, turn into Riviera Tito Livio, where you can catch a bus or tram back to Prato della Valle.<\/p>\n
Walking back to Prato della Valle
If you walk up to Canton del Gallo [Cockerel Corner] \u2013 so named because once the site of an inn \u201cat the sign of the Cockerel\u201d \u2013 you turn left into Via Roma. This pedestrian street is lined with fashionable shops and also has numerous caf\u00e9s and bars. Some way along the street you come to Ponte delle Torricelle [Bridge of the Small Towers], so called because probably there were two towers alongside the thirteenth-century city gateway here. The bridge was built in the sixteenth century on the foundations of a Roman bridge, and spans the Inner Shipping Canal (Naviglio Interno<\/i>). This is one of the few remaining stretches of this waterway; most it has been filled in, but it once ran along what is now the route of Riviera Ponti Romani (the only trace of the waterway here open to the public is the Ponte San Lorenzo; map: 11) and the Riviera Tito Livio. On the other side of the bridge begins Via Umberto I, again lined with shops and cafes. This takes you past the church of Santa Maria dei Servi (map: 50) to your starting-point: Prato della Valle. On the corner of the street and square stands the Museum of Pre-Cinema, which houses the Minici Zotti collection (map: 46); a truly special museum, this contains a range of magic lanterns and examples of the other appartus that was used to project moving figures and images in the centuries before the Lumi\u00e8re brothers came up with their invention. With this dive into a past that so clearly heralded the future, this particular itinerary through the streets of Padua comes to an end.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
A stroll suitable for one and all through some of the main sites in Padua \u2013 with a recommended detour into one of the less visited areas of the city.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":960907,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":""},"categories":[595,865,890,891],"tags":[1799],"categorie-percorsi":[1344,1348,1364],"class_list":["post-82669","percorsi","type-percorsi","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-art-and-culture","category-guided-tours-and-excursions","category-without-architectural-barriers","category-green-slow","tag-tour-en-2","categorie-percorsi-escursioni-giornaliere-en","categorie-percorsi-art-and-culture","categorie-percorsi-slow-green-en"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n