Padua (Padova in Italian) is a city of 200,000 in the Veneto region of northeast Italy, 35 km from Venice, and the home of the oldest continuously operating university in the world after Bologna — the University of Padua (founded 1222) where Galileo Galilei taught for 18 years (1592–1610) and where Vesalius revolutionised anatomy by dissecting human bodies in the Anatomical Theatre (1594, the oldest surviving anatomical theatre in the world). Padua is also the site of the Scrovegni Chapel (1304–1305), which holds the most important fresco cycle in Western art — Giotto's 38 panels covering the entire chapel interior are so significant that the restoration of perspective and naturalism in painting they represent effectively initiated the Renaissance; art historians consider this the most important single room in Western art, equal to the Sistine Chapel. The Basilica of Saint Anthony (Sant'Antonio, begun 1232) is one of the great pilgrimage churches of Christianity — the tomb of Saint Anthony of Padua (patron saint of lost things, 1195–1231) is the most visited shrine in Italy after Rome, and the Donatello bronze reliefs of the high altar (1443–1450) are considered his greatest sculptural achievement. Padua's medieval heart is the most intact in the Veneto — the Piazza delle Erbe, Piazza della Frutta and Piazza dei Signori form the longest continuous medieval market square sequence in Italy, connected under the Palazzo della Ragione (1218, the largest medieval hall in Europe on the ground floor, 78 m × 27 m, with an elaborately frescoed interior).
Giotto's 1304–1305 fresco cycle (38 panels, Life of the Virgin and Life of Christ) in the tiny barrel-vaulted chapel initiated the Renaissance by introducing psychological naturalism, three-dimensional space and individual human expression into painting for the first time — booking essential (only 25 visitors at a time, 15 min in the decontamination chamber, 20 min in the chapel itself).
🎫 Book tickets via GetYourGuideThe Palazzo della Ragione (1218, expanded 1306) spans the twin Piazza delle Erbe (herb market) and Piazza della Frutta (fruit market) on its ground floor — the upper hall (78 m × 27 m, the largest medieval hall in Europe by floor area without intermediate columns) has 333 astrological frescoes; the three connected squares below host a daily market unchanged for 800 years.
🎫 Book tickets via GetYourGuideThe Caffè Pedrocchi (est. 1831) was the most famous café in Italy for a century — a neo-classical building where Italian unification conspirators met and the 1848 student revolution began (a student was shot in the green-and-white first-floor salon); the caffè pedrocchi (espresso with mint cream) is the city's signature drink.
The elliptical island of grass surrounded by a moat (Prato della Valle, 88,620 m²) is the largest public space in Italy and one of the largest in Europe — the 78 statues around the moat represent famous citizens of Padua; Donatello's Gattamelata equestrian statue (1453) at the Basilica entrance is the first large-scale equestrian bronze cast since antiquity.
🎫 Book tickets via GetYourGuidePaduan pasta: bigoli (thick whole-wheat spaghetti from the region) with duck ragù (anatra) or cinghiale (wild boar), followed by baccalà alla vicentina (salted cod with onions and milk, the Veneto's most distinctive dish); local Colli Euganei DOC wine from the volcanic hills south of the city.
The 1232 basilica (eight domes, Byzantine-Romanesque with Gothic elements) is Italy's most-visited pilgrimage site after Rome — Saint Anthony's tomb receives thousands of pilgrims daily; Donatello's bronze reliefs of the Miracles of Saint Anthony (1443–1450) on the high altar are considered his greatest achievement in the medium.
🎫 Book tickets via GetYourGuideThe University of Padua (1222) has Galileo's original wooden lectern in the Aula Magna (Great Hall) and the world's oldest anatomical theatre (1594) — the egg-shaped six-tier wooden amphitheatre where 300 students watched illegal (at first) human dissections performed by candlelight on a single table in the centre; access by guided tour only.
🎫 Book tickets via GetYourGuideThe Padua Botanic Garden (1545, UNESCO 2007) is the world's oldest academic botanic garden still in its original location — founded by the Medical Faculty of the University to grow medicinal plants for pharmacy students; Goethe's Palm (a Chamaerops humilis planted 1585, 1.5 m wide, still alive) and the surviving 16th-century circular garden design.
🎫 Book tickets via GetYourGuideThe Veneto invented the spritz (Aperol spritz, Campari spritz or Cynar spritz with prosecco and soda) — the aperitivo hour in the bars of Piazza delle Erbe with cicchetti (Venetian bar snacks: fried mozzarella, baccalà mantecato on bread, polpette meatballs) is the most pleasant hour of the Paduan day.
The volcanic Euganean Hills (30 km south of Padua) have thermal spring spa towns (Abano Terme, Montegrotto Terme) with mud therapy (fango) that has been practised since Roman times — the 85°C radioactive springs are the hottest natural thermal water in Europe; day spa access from €30.
🎫 Book tickets via GetYourGuideThe medieval hilltop village of Arquà Petrarca (35 km from Padua) is where Francesco Petrarch (the poet who effectively invented the sonnet as a literary form) lived his last years and was buried in 1374 — his house (casa del Petrarca) is preserved with 14th-century furnishings; the village is among the most beautiful in the Veneto.
🎫 Book tickets via GetYourGuidePadua is the ideal Venice base — the 25-minute train ride (€5, every 30 min) makes Venice a day trip from a city that is far more liveable and affordable; St Mark's Basilica, the Doge's Palace, the Rialto fish market and a vaporetto ride on the Grand Canal are all accessible without the cost of Venice accommodation.
🎫 Book tickets via GetYourGuideThe restaurant and bar street along Via Altinate and the area around Piazza della Frutta has student-oriented trattorie open late — pasta e fagioli (pasta and bean soup, the Paduan staple), grilled radicchio from Treviso and a carafe of house Amarone or Ripasso.