DAY 6 and 7 (29th and 30th November 2023) – Padova (or Padua)
Day 6 was spent almost entirely in meetings and factory visits with our hosts in Piove di Sacco, a suburb of Padova. Then food, then meetings again and then food again. Hardly any adventure on Day 6! Just some photos to show that we really did go for work… (Bro Ray: The meetings went well, and we are pleased for the potential leads :@) Our hosts threw us a wonderful dinner on the night of 29th November at the Ristorante Trattoria alla Botta.
The morning of Day 7 (it was 2⁰C) started out in the warm comforts of our hosts’ office, going through some new products and potential future business collaborations. By the afternoon, all business matters were done, and we said our goodbyes. Our hosts arranged a van to bring us to the city of Padova, and then arranged for the van to bring us back to our hotel in the evening. That gave us at least some opportunities to explore Padova, another very old city in northeast Italy.
Prato della Valle
This odd-shaped piazza at the centre of the city contains an elliptical canal that surrounds a man-made island called l’Isola Memmia. There were to have been 88 statues along the inner and outer ring of the canal, but some were destroyed, leaving only 40 on the outer ring and 38 on the inner ring, mostly depicting some important people in the history of the city. What was once a swampy area was reclaimed in the 1600s and 1700s and slowly turned into the square that it is now.
As the area was slowly reclaimed and made into usable land, the Abbiaza di Santa Giustina was reconstructed, after seeing periods of neglect and war since year 520. The church was dedicated to St. Justina of Padova as well as to other 4th century martyrs.
If the weather had been better, we would have spent a little longer out in the open.
Basilica of St. Anthony
A short 7-minute walk away, and we found ourselves at the Basilica of St. Anthony, which was dedicated to Saint Anthony, a passionate advocate for the poor and the sickly. He was born in Lisbon and died in Padova. The cathedral was said to have started construction in 1232, one year after his death. New buildings were added over the centuries to what it is today.
I have always been personally very fascinated with the frescoes and pictures painted on the ceilings and arches inside old buildings, and this place contains another example of such fine artistry. (Bro Ray: Reminder to self – I need to take better photographs!)
University of Padova
This is one of the highlights of our trip to Italy, visiting the 2nd oldest university in Italy, and ranked 7th oldest in the world. This is the site of the famous Anatomical Theatre of Padua, where human dissections were said to have been first conducted in front of an audience, usually students of the medical profession, but was said to have been viewed by nobles and the upper class.
Now We Know
Top 10 oldest universities in the world (depending on who you ask):
10. University of Coimbra, Portugal (1290)
9. University of Siena, Italy (1240)
8. University of Naples Federico II, Italy (1224)
7. University of Padua, Italy (1222)
6. University of Cambridge, UK (1209)
5. University of Paris, France (1160)
4. University of Salamanca, Spain (1134)
3. University of Oxford, UK (1096)
2. University of Bologna, Italy (1088)
1. University of al-Qarrawiyyin, Morocco (859)
The official guided tour started from the Palazzo Bo (which got its name because it was formerly the place where oxen were butchered – Bo meaning Ox) and would take us past many exhibits, sculptures and paintings depicting the history and the people associated with the university. The university was started when a group of students and academics from the University of Bologna felt that they needed freedom to pursue their own scholarly interests, and so began their own academic paths at Padova University.
We were given the chance to visit to the Anatomical Theatre, where live human dissections had been performed in the past. Because the area was quite congested, only 5 persons at a time were allowed in. Without modern gadgets like a video recorder, everyone who wanted to have a view of the autopsy would have to stand and watch the whole operation for several hours. Apparently, some would faint due to the heat, smell and tiredness from standing for hours. Our guide said that there would be music being played by a small orchestra to keep the people “entertained”.
The Anatomical Theatre of Padova: (left) replica only (right) view from the bottom of the theatre, where the body of the deceased would have been laid for the dissection
Along the stairways of the university are the coats of arms from various regions belonging to the famous peoples who have graced this university.
In the Sala dei Quaranta, which is an anteroom just outside the graduation hall, there was a wooden platform with stairs named Cattedra di Galileo, from which the likes of Nicolaus Copernicus and Galileo Galilei (both famous for their works in astronomy, mathematics and engineering) most likely gave lectures and talks from. This platform has been kept down the ages, almost in its original form.
On three walls of the hall were portraits of famous scholars from all over the world, forty in all from 23 different countries (hence the given name of the hall – The Hall of Forty). These portraits were painted by Gian Giacomo dal Forno in 1942, hence are not real portraits, of people like Ianus Pannonius, Werner Rolfinck and Johan Ruthven.
And lastly, the graduation room for the Masters’ Degree and Doctorate students, called the Great Hall of Padua, or Aula Magna. A special room with even more coats of arms and different other plaques and ornaments contributed by the graduates. The intersection of the walls and the ceiling were painted in such a way that it gave the walls the illusion that they were curved into the ceiling in a dome-like fashion. The ceiling was beautifully painted by Giulio Carlini in 1854.
Scrovegni Chapel and Chiesa Degli Eremitani
By the time we left the university, the sun had set and the weather was getting colder. We had a lovely evening stroll northwards, until we arrived at the Chiesa Degli Eremitani, the Church of Hermits. We made just a brief stop to have a look inside. The ceiling and roof of the building is quite different from the other churches and cathedrals we’ve been – this had the look of an inverted hull of a boat.
Scrovegni Chapel was just a short walk away, but we could not find a way in – probably locked for the night. There was a park immediately outside the gates, so we just walked around outside, before the coolness of the night and the hunger in our stomachs edged us to the nearby restaurants for some warmth and some dinner. The van came round to pick us up at the appointed time thereafter.
Summary for Day 7
Work and leisure…. What is there not to like! There are probably many more places to visit in Padova, but I am glad we covered the two most important places – the Basilica of St Anthony and the University of Padova. The walk wasn’t too far as well, but the weather hadn’t been too good all day. And tomorrow, we go home…
