Padova (Padua) : Italy
The most famous of the Paduan churches is the basilica dedicated to Saint Anthony of Padua, locally simply called “Il Santo.” The bones of the saint rest in a chapel richly ornamented with carved marbles, the work of various artists, among them of Sansovino and Falconetto; the basilica was begun about the year 1230 and completed in the following century; tradition says that the building was designed by Nicola Pisano; it is covered by seven cupolas, two of them pyramidal. On the piazza in front of the church is Donatello’s magnificent equestrian statue of “Gattamelata” ( Erasmo da Narni), the Venetian general (1438-1441), which was cast in 1453, the first full-size equestrian bronze cast since antiquity.
The Eremitani is an Augustinian church of the 13th century, distinguished as containing the tombs of Jacopo (1324) and Ubertino (1345) da Carrara, lords of Padua, and for the chapel of SS James and Christopher, formerly illustrated by Mantegna’s frescoes, largely destroyed in World War II. Now the disused church houses the municipal art gallery. Close by the Eremitani is the small church of the Annunziata, known as the Madonna dell’Arena, containing the Scrovegni chapel, whose inner walls are entirely covered with paintings by Giotto.
Padua has long been famous for its university, founded by Frederick II, Holy Roman Emperor, in 1238. Under the rule of Venice the university was governed by a board of three patricians, called the Riformatori dello Studio di Padova. The list of professors and alumni is long and illustrious, containing, among others, the names of Bembo, Sperone Speroni, the anatomist Vesalius, Fallopius, Fabrizio d’Acquapendente, Galileo Galilei, Pietro Pomponazzi, Reginald, later Cardinal Pole, Scaliger, Tasso and Sobieski.
