If you've read William Shakespeare's Taming of the Shrew, then you've heard of Padua, which is where most of the action in that play takes place. Padua is about twenty-three miles west of Venice and is home to more than 200,000 people who are regularly counted as residents of the Venetian suburbs. You can reach Padua by rental car, bus, taxicab, or train, though a portion of the city's center is closed to all traffic except pedestrians and bicycle riders. The train ride from Venice (there's one arriving every fifteen minutes or so) is just twenty minutes long and brings you into Padua's main station, Padova Centrale.

History

In a region full of antiquities, Padua claims to be the oldest city in northern Italy. Nobody knows for sure whether that's true, but certainly the city is longstanding. Artifacts dating back to before the common era have been found here. Attila invaded with the Huns in the fifth century, a constitution was established in the eleventh century, and a university was founded in 1222. The Venetians took over as rulers of Padua in the early fifteenth century and remained in control until the Venetian republic fell just before the turn of the nineteenth century. As with Venice, Padua was under Austrian control for a time, eventually becoming part of Italy in 1866.

Professors and alumni of the university in Padua include Copernicus and Galileo. It houses what is believed to be the world's oldest botanical garden, established in 1545 and still in its original site. According to the university, there are some 6,000 plants there today. You can tour the garden for 4 year-round, except on holidays, when it is closed. Details are online at www.ortobotanico.unipd.it.

Touring Tips

The main sights worth seeing in Padua are religious. Perhaps the best known is Scrovegni Chapel, which was originally built as a private chapel for a wealthy banker named Enrico degli Scrovegni. He commissioned Renaissance painter Giotto di Bondone to paint a fresco called Last Judgment that covers an entire wall and other works of art. Guided tours are available in Italian, or you can make special arrangements for English-speaking tours if you are visiting with a group. The official website is www.cappelladegliscrovegni.it.

Another site worth seeing is the Basilica del Santo, which was completed in the early 1300s and to this day is Padua's largest church. It is where the corpse of St. Anthony of Padua lies, and thus is an important location of pilgrimage for many visitors. Beyond touring the interior of the church, which houses many artworks, you can make arrangements for a guided tour of the courtyards, which are absolutely gorgeous. Book directly online through www.basilicadelsanto.org.