It has been a long time since I wrote a post on this site. We have now been in Padova for over a year and I guess I have kind of started living my life rather than writing about it. I am going to try to be better at adding to the blog as I think we have had some great adventures and seen some lovely places. This post was started months ago but just never finished. I am determined to not only finish this one but catch everyone up on what we have been doing.

On February 10, 2018, I wrote a post about our brief visit to Padova while we were driving around this area. Although we were quite taken with this city at the time, we had no intention of actually moving here. It was rather a cold and damp day when we visited, but Padova still stood out for its architecture, its 800 year old university and the market in the center of the city. I would like to give you a sense of this city we have chosen (at least for the present as we have renewed our lease for another year and a half) to plant ourselves, so I have selected some of my favorite pictures of Padova to explain its charm. Some I have posted before and some repeat different moods of the same place.

We live on one of the main piazzas (Piazza dei Signori) in the center of Padova and only 200 yards from one of the oldest and finest markets in Europe. I never cease to be amazed that I actually get to shop there everyday.

The legend here is that after the Trojan War, Antenore (one of the characters in the Iliad) founded the city after the fall of Troy when he led a group seeking refuge to northern Italy. The myth is an attempt to give Padova the same credentials as ancient Rome (which according to legend was also founded by Trojan refugees led by
Aeneas). There is a piazza named after Antenore that has a tomb that was once claimed to be his. Later research has debunked the idea of the Trojan hero actually being in the sarcophagus, but it is a great stop for all guided tours.

The university here was founded 1222 by students and faculty from Bologna who were looking for freedom from what they saw as stifling oversight of the university in that city. It includes in its famous alumni Copernicus and Galileo, who taught here for 18 years. The walls are covered with the family crests of graduates.

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Our Piazza is ever changing its’ personality. 5 days a week (Tuesday to Saturday) it is a market with clothing, housewares and plants until about 1 pm. Every night, when the weather is agreeable, it is filled with outdoor diners. It can be a parade ground and a place for protests. Once we had a slate of boxing matches right outside of our apartment.

As with many Italian cities, over the centuries Padova was fortified with numerous rings of walls and water. Nearly every evening we take a walk along one of the canals where we see various water features, an occasional Blue Heron .

I have posted pictures before of the Specola, but from the little bridge near it I can never resist taking one more picture. The tower was once part of a long destroyed fortification. When I realized that Galileo had taught here for 16 years and the city had this great observatory, my heart jumped. But alas, the observatory was added to the tower several centuries after Galileo left. He did many observations here from a different tower, but he had left Padova before he had his telescope.

Padova has what they say is the oldest botanical garden still occupying its’ original site in the world.

The Scrovegni Chapel with its Giotto frescoes is on everyone’s list when they come to Padova. The chapel is hermetically sealed, you have to make reservations at least one day in advance (I suggest that if you want to see it in high season, you make the reservations far in advance) and you only get to stay for about 15 minutes. Is it worth all of that? Quite simply, yes. Those of you who are art history buffs already know what I am talking about. Those who are not, just Google Giotto.

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The last place on my virtual tour is the Basilica of San Antonio. It is one of my favorite churches in the world. With seven domes, lavish ornamentation and the tomb of San Antonio, it is a wonderland of visual stimulation. The tomb is a magnet for pilgrims from all over the world and I have never been there when there were not several people praying while touching the tomb. Because of its holy nature they ask you not to take pictures (it could also be because they want you to buy pictures and books from the gift shop and local vendors) so I do not have many of my own pictures of the interior, but I have been able to sneak a few.

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One of the main reasons we moved here was the ease with which we could travel. Since we have been here we have been able to visit Venice on a regular basis. We have also been on visits to Trieste, Vienna, Florence, Bologna, Ferrara, Milan, Lake Garda and the Italian alps. Although we miss the good friends we made in Lecce, it has been a good choice for us to be where it is a little easier to travel.

I will write again soon.