I like to consider myself as somewhat of a museum tiger. I can spend hours in succession exploring the collections of the largest museums in the world. But Padova’s Musei Civici or Eremitani Museums were just too much for me. They are anything but boring, but simply too large to…
The Cappella degli Scrovegni is arguably Padova’s most famous monument. I had been looking forward to visiting it for quite some time and had made my reservation to see the chapel weeks in advance. These reservations are compulsory, and to protect the vulnerable frescoes inside, a maximum of 25 visitors…
The church of Sant’Antonio di Padova, known as Il Santo to locals, is not just any church. It is in fact the second most important church of the Order of the Franciscans, after the Papal Basilica of Saint Francis in Assisi. It is huge, but not as large as the…
I can only describe the church of the Eremitani in Padova as a pleasant surprise. We still had about an hour to go before we could visit the famous Cappella degli Scrovegni, so we decided to pop in here and have a look. Our expectations were quite low, as the…
The city of Padova was known as Patavium in Antiquity. It suffered badly during the fifth and sixth century invasions of peoples like the Huns and the Longobards. The city opened its gates to the former in 452, while the latter almost completely destroyed it in 602. Padova was again…
The Duomo of Padova, i.e. the cathedral of Santa Maria Assunta, is a bit of a disappointment. The building we see today was constructed between 1551 and 1754, replacing an earlier edifice. Its exterior, with an undecorated facade in naked brick, is simple and unimpressive. Somehow the builders never got…