“Padua is a city of prohibitions, and tourists have to be aware of them. If you sit on the ground or lie down on a public bench in the street or in a park, you could receive a hefty fine. It’s forbidden to chain a bicycle to a tree or a traffic light. What’s more, claiming ignorance of these rules won’t help a foreign tourist – they’ll find you anyway. Begging is strictly forbidden, and in the downtown area it’s even forbidden to hang your clothes in the window to dry.”
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Padua is full of young people and full of life! Between seven and nine in the morning the cafés are full of teenagers. This is part of their daily routine: before school, they get together for a black coffee and a (delicious) croissant, or a pancake stuffed with fruit and chocolate cream, then they sling their bags over their shoulders and head to school for about nine. There’s no sign of stress or annoyance – as though they’re going on some fun excursion, and not to school.
I love people-watching during this breakfast bustle: elegant ladies cycling by, with their pearl necklaces and designer sunglasses, the well-dressed gentlemen reading their papers and sipping coffee, the loud, cheerful groups of teenagers, and the polite waiters long accustomed to the breakfast chaos.
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"Padua didn't disappoint. Although the short morning spent there was painfully little to look at everything closely, it was still enough to get a sense of the city’s atmosphere. Because it is close to Venice and was part of the Venetian Republic for many years, the Venetian influence can be seen and felt in many places. The many ornate colonnaded arcades also put me in mind of Bologna. I loved it. The city was just waking up when we arrived. Some of the market stallholders had already unpacked, some were still unpacking, but there were some who hadn’t even arrived, and there were practically no shoppers. Bathed in the rays of the rising sun, we crossed the square of Prato della Valle, ringed by statues and a wide circular moat.
Following the arcades, we easily reached Piazza del Santo. This square is an important part of the city in several respects, as this is where the Basilica of St. Anthony stands, named after St. Anthony of Padua, the city’s patron saint, who rests in a mausoleum within the church and attracts pilgrims. There are several statues by Donatello in the church, and the main altar was made by him, but since the mass was being held when we were there, we didn't walk around, but only went to St. Anthony's tomb, especially since we spent time in the belfry of the monastery. Since we were already late, we took only a brief glance at the huge Donatello’s huge bronze statue, Gattamalata, which stands facing the sun in front of the church. It is one of the sculptor’s principal works, and (apparently) depicts a Roman hero. From here we cut through the deserted street to Piazza Delle Erbe, where the Palace of Justice stands, and a little further on one of the buildings of the University of Padua.
As regards the university, it is definitely worth mentioning that this was one of the first European universities, that Galileo Galilei taught here for a while, and that the first autopsy was performed in his anatomy department in the 1500s, when it was still forbidden. There was a market in the square, of course, huge vegetable stalls occupied the whole square, so it was impossible to see at all, but the market was also very nice. Seriously! From here we were already turning back because we were pressed for time: we had an almost seven-hour drive ahead of us. By the time we got back to the square with the moat, it was full of market stalls, as well as buyers. So Italian.
