A Guide to Padua

Padua was one of the most important cities in Roman and Medieval times, its origins go back for over three thousand years. The Medieval heart of the city remains almost perfectly intact. Padua was once a flourishing centre of humanist and Renaissance culture.

The city is immersed in distinguished names including Francesco Petrarca and Galileo Galilei can still be felt today, and there are many masterpieces by Donatello, Titian and Veronese to be admired. Places to visit include the Museum of Applied and Decorative Arts, the Amento and Donato Sartori International Mask Museum, and the Minici Zotti Pre-cinema Collection Museum. There are enchanting Villas and Castles such as Villa Selvatico Sartori, Villa Elmo Capodilista and Villa Contarini. Padua is likened to Venice for its web of navigable canals, along the Brenta River, from Padua to Battaglia and Monselice, from Padua to Saccolongo and from Pontelongo to Chioggia.

The surrounding area is of great natural and manmade beauty, from the Euganei Hills to the Ecclesiastical buildings such as the Monteortone Sanctuary and the Benedettina Abbey of Praglia.