The classic route
The classic town route offers the opportunity to visit the most interesting monuments and places in just one day. It starts from the square Piazza Eremitani where there stand the Scrovegni Chapel, Giotto's masterpiece; Musei Civici Eremitani (the Eremitani Town Museum with an archeological section, and a picture gallery with works painted from 1300 to 1700 including Guariento's "Armed Angels", a Crucifix by Giotto, and works of art by Bellini); the Eremitani Church (that preserves frescoes by Guariento, Giusto de' Menabuoi and Andrea Mantegna); and Palazzo Zuckermann, the house of a Museum of the Applied and Decorative Arts, and of the Bottacin Collection. Please be informed that the visit to the Scrovegni Chapel must be booked not less than 48 hours in advance. People who have not booked can enter only if there are unsold tickets for the day. Access is allowed to 25 people per shift, with shifts lasting 15 minutes in the technological room, and 15 minutes inside the Chapel.
Tourists can then walk to Caffè Pedrocchi, then to the University of Padua housed in the Bo Palace. This university is one of the oldest in Europe, and it contains the renowned Anatomy Theatre (from the 16th century) and Galileo Galilei's chair. The tour then continues to Palazzo della Ragione and its surrounding squares (Piazza delle Erbe, Piazza dei Frutti, and Piazza dei Signori) that host a colourful market daily. The Cathedral of Padua, called Duomo in Italian, is not far away. Beside the Cathedral there rises its Baptistery, which preserves wonderful frescoes by Giusto de' Menabuoi. Do not miss a visit to Museo Diocesano. Located in the old Palazzo Vescovile (the Bishop's palace), the museum of the Padua See of the Catholic Church preserves precious paintings, sculptures, and jewellery that formed the rich Treasure of the Cathedral, and then religious vestments, illuminated manuscripts, and incunabula. The visit includes the Chapel of Santa Maria degli Angeli with frescoes dating to the end of the 15th century, and the wonderful Salone dei Vescovi, a wide hall with a walled surface exceeding 900 square meters fully covered by frescoes portraying the first 100 Bishops of Padua.
Walking in via Soncin and via S. Canziano the tour takes visitors back to Piazza Antenore, with the tomb built in 1283-85 to contain the mortal remains that humanist Lovato de' Lovati had attributed to Antenore, the legendary founder of Padua. Close to this square there stands Palazzo Zabarella, an ancient palace of the da Carrara family now turned into a prestigious location for events and art exhibitions.
Via del Santo takes to the Basilica of St. Anthony, a temple of Christian faith and a box of works of art, every year the destination of millions of pilgrims and tourists. The Basilica is surrounded by more distinguished monuments, as the monument to Gattamelata by Donatello, the 14th-century masterpiece Oratory of St. George, the Antoniani Museums and the Scuola del Santo. Not too far from the Basilica, at the end of via Cesarotti, there rises the monumental complex of the Loggia and the Odeo Cornaro, wonderful examples of Renaissance architecture in Padua.
Back on Piazza del Santo visitors can take via dell'Orto Botanico to reach the oldest university Botanical Garden in Europe, founded in 1545. Slightly ahead is Prato della Valle, a grandiose elliptical square onto which many historical buildings and old palaces look, including Palazzo Angeli with the Museo del Precinema (the museum of the age that preceded cinema) and, to the south, the Basilica of St. Justine, one of the largest in Europe.
