Padua Travel Guide: Giotto's Masterpiece & the City of Saints

Padua (Padova) is 40 minutes from Venice by train and a fraction of the price. It contains one of the most important works of art in Western history — Giotto’s frescoes in the Scrovegni Chapel — as well as a living medieval city centre, the second-oldest university in Italy (founded 1222, where Galileo taught for 18 years), and the largest pilgrimage basilica in Italy after St. Peter’s.

The Scrovegni Chapel

The Cappella degli Scrovegni (1303–1305) contains 37 narrative fresco panels by Giotto that effectively invented Western painting. For the first time in European art, figures have weight, occupy real space, and express recognisable human emotions. Art historians regard this as the moment representational art in Europe began. Visits are strictly timed (25 minutes maximum); book well in advance at cappelladegliscrovegni.it.

The Basilica of St. Anthony

The Basilica di Sant’Antonio (begun 1232) is one of the great pilgrimage churches of the Catholic world. It draws 5 million visitors a year. The Treasury Chapel contains the relics of St. Anthony; the Donatello bronzes on the high altar are his masterpiece of bronze casting.

The university and the city

The Bo Palace (Palazzo del Bo) contains the world’s oldest surviving anatomical theatre (1594), where the first systematic human dissections in Europe were conducted. Tours are available.

Prato della Valle is the largest piazza in Italy — an elliptical garden island surrounded by a canal and 78 statues. The Saturday market is one of the best in the Veneto.

As a Venice base

Padua offers significantly cheaper accommodation than Venice. Fast trains run every 30 minutes; the journey is 25–40 minutes. Worth considering for a 3–5 night Veneto trip.