Padova Audio Tours

Padova (Padua) accumulated extraordinary firsts across eight centuries with a calm confidence. The University of Padua, founded in 1222, is the second oldest continuously operating university in the world -- Galileo Galilei taught mathematics and astronomy from its lectern between 1592 and 1610, and the original wooden chair he used is still on display. The Scrovegni Chapel, completed around 1305, holds Giotto's complete fresco cycle depicting the lives of Mary and Christ, a painting program so revolutionary that it effectively launched Western Renaissance painting from this single room in a small northern Italian city.

The Orto Botanico, established in 1545, is the oldest surviving botanic garden in the world and still operates as a research garden of the University of Padua.

Prato della Valle, the vast elliptical square ringed by 78 statues, is one of the largest public squares in Europe and still functions as a weekend market and gathering place as it has for centuries. The Basilica of Saint Anthony, with its eight domes visible from miles around, draws pilgrims who have been coming since Anthony died in 1231, making Padova a city of living traditions layered one on top of another.