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2647_05_C415_PADOVA_GB 17-05-2006 10:38 Pagina 14 outside and a very spiritual atmosphere inside; in the church of St. Francesco 15 th century frescoes and a Renaissance bronze funeral monument are kept; the little Romanesque church of St. Nicolò stands in one of the most lovely corners of the town and keeps works by Jacopo da Montagnana, Stefano dall’Arzere and Giandomenico Tiepolo. Few people know that the 18 th century composer Giuseppe Tartini, who wrote the opera Il trillo del diavolo (Devil’s Trill Sonata) is buried in the small church of St. Caterina; an unexpected surprise awaits the visitor of the church of St. Massimo: three beautiful paintings by Giovan Battista Tiepolo (17 th c.), the painter who decorated many Italian villas, and painted the ceiling frescoes in the palace of the Archbishop at Würzburg and the palace of Charles III of Spain in Madrid. More recent masterpieces are the church of St. Gaetano built on a plan of Vincenzo Scamozzi (16 th c.) and the church of Santa Maria del Pianto, called Chiesa del Torresino, for the central embattled tower. Another ancient church is the Oratory of St. Michele in Pozzoveggiani, which is the result of the juxtaposition of a Romanesque building on an early-medieval one. The church of St. Anthony at Arcella is the place where the saint died in 1231. 1 Monteortone of Abano Terme, Madonna della Salute Sanctuary 2 Padua, St. Michele’s Church at Pozzoveggiani Below, Praglia Abbey 2 1 The province of Padua is rich in religious buildings and monuments too. The coenobia of the monastic orders have been peaceful retreats for scholars, chief centres of Christian piety and learning for centuries. A visit to these religious sites is a great experience for those who enjoy the sense of somewhere different, very spiritual and peaceful. Embedded in the greenery of the Euganean Hills, the Benedictine Abbey of Santa Maria di Praglia is one of the oldest monasteries of the region. It was founded in the 11 th - century but almost entirely rebuilt in the 15 th century, when the abbey became one of the main centres for land reclamation and conversion into farmland of the whole Paduan territory. The wide complex includes a fine Renaissance church (1448) with frescoes and paintings of Venetian school, and a crucifix attributed to the followers of Giotto’s, the medieval monastery with ancient refectory and guest house, cloisters, the Old Library, and finally the worldwide famous book restoration centre. Nestled on the top of the hill, the Monastery of Monte Rua, is still a Camaldolite hermitage. Even though visitors are not allowed in the monastery, from the spot where it rises one can enjoy a beautiful view on the surrounding hills. The Abbey of Santa Maria di Carceri near Este is an ancient former monastery (12 th century), which was partially converted into private mansion by the Carminati noble family at the end of the 17 th century. The huge complex includes church and abbey, cloisters, guest-rooms, and a library with fine frescoes. Not far from Carceri, in Urbana, stands the former monastery of San Salvaro with its ancient church dating back to the 11 th c. adorned by frescoes (14 th c.) and a collection of old maps, papers and finds, which document the history of this part of the paduan territory. 5 An important example of the romanic style of North-East Italy is the church of St. Stefano at Due Carrare. Once part of an important abbey, the church survived the terrible earthquake of the year 1117, which destroyed almost all the main buildings which had been built up to that year. St. Stefano’s Church still keeps its original medieval structure and belltower, fine 11 th century and 14 th century mosaics and the tomb of Marsilio da Carrara, prince of Padua at the beginning of the 14 th century. Many churches and sanctuaries are dedicated to the Virgin Mary and they often rise where a miraculous event took place. The Sanctuary of Santa Maria di Monteortone in Abano Terme began its history in 1428 when a soldier, a certain Pietro Falco, bathing himself in the grotto at the side of the present church to heal himself of the plague, obtained a cure and, following a divine command, exctracted from the healing water a panel representing the Madonna, which is still displayed on the altar of the apse. On the Monte della Madonna (Teolo) is the fifteenth-century Sanctuary of the Madonna, with small Benedictine monastery and beautiful view on the surrounding landscape. 3 4 In Este a church dedicated to the Madonna delle Grazie (our Lady of the Graces) keeps a venerated Byzantine Madonna on wood realized in the 15 th century. Another sanctuary dedicated to St. Mary is in Ospedaletto Euganeo. The so called Santuario del Tresto was erected in 1468 in order to host a miraculous image of the Virgin, who had appeared to a boatman. In Piove di Sacco, the most important centre of the south-eastern part of the province, two important religious monuments are to be visited: the Cathedral, dedicated to St. Martin and the Sanctuary of the Madonna delle Grazie (our Lady of the Graces), built in 1484 to hold an effigy of Mary, which the people believed to be miraculous. In the north of the province, in Camposampiero, stands the Santuario del Noce (Walnut-tree Sanctuary), dedicated to the most beloved saint of Padua and its province, St. Anthony. As the legend goes, this small church was built precisely on the spot where St. Anthony delivered a memorable sermon while standing at the top of a walnut-tree. 3 Torreglia, Hermitage on the Mount Rua 4 Camposampiero, Sanctuary of the Wallnut-tree 5 Piove di Sacco, Madonna delle Grazie Sanctuary, Giovanni Bellini’s Madonna with Child Below, Carceri Abbey
2647_05_C415_PADOVA_GB 17-05-2006 10:38 Pagina 16 A province of waters. The first settlement of Padua arose around the 12 th century B.C. inside a wide bend of the river Medoacus, the actual river Brenta. Since then the history of Padua has been marked by waters. Already in the 1 st century A.D. the famous Roman historian, Titus Livius (or Livy), author of one of the more veritable versions of the history of the Roman Republic, narrated of the incredible skill of the Paduans in navigation, when in the year 302 B.C. they defeated the fleet of the Spartan King Cleonimus. During the Roman age Patavium was one of the most thriving commerce centres of the Roman Empire. 3 4 1-3 Paduan waterways 4 Canale Battaglia riverbank 5 Onara Marsh 6 Canoeing on the Bacchiglione River 7 Padua, view of the waterway which flows around the ancient walls 16 2 8 Riviera del Brenta, tourist navigation in front of Villa Giovannelli at Noventa Padovana 9 Padua, Ognissanti Gate 10 Battaglia Terme, Museum of River Navigation The great Greek historian and geographer Strabon wrote that Patavium was the most important town of the region and ancient chronicles report of the great number of wares that left its harbour towards Rome thus proving the presence of a flourishing and dynamic people and economy. The city thrived until the barbarian onslaughts and the subsequent Langobard invasion, which took place from the fourth to the seventh century. Recovery was slow and Padua’s great canal network played again a fundamental role, as it had an ever increasing strategic importance in the fights for the territorial supremacy. First during the Commune government and then during the Da Carrara Seigneury and the Venetian domination the excavations realized to control and exploit the waters led to the creation of a dense network of navigable canals, real and true “water motorways”. This network connected Padua with the surrounding territory and with all the most important towns of the Veneto region. During the four centuries of the Venetian domination waterways were used to transport an impressive quantity of wares and goods from the paduan territory to Venice and Venetian noblemen could easily navigate them to reach 5 1 the Euganean Hills and the paduan countryside, where they erected their magnificent villas. Until the middle of the 20 th century Paduan waterways were sailed by all sort of boats: rafts, peote, burci, gondole, sandoli, padovane and burchielli, and were populated by fix and floating watermills. The Bacchiglione river, which in the past connected Vicenza with Padua, represents still today the primary water source for the city: its waters enter in Padua from the South and flow along the Renaissance walls to the Ezzelino Castle. Here the Bacchiglione bifurcates: the link wing, called Tronco Maestro, flows 8 7 downwards along the medieval walls to the old Carmine Basilica; the right wing, called Naviglio Interno, follows the internal side of the walls, flows through the city centre to the Porte Contarine, after which the Tronco Maestro and the Naviglio interno flow together and form the Piovego canal. In the last years a great programme of waterways recovering and restoring has given impulse to the tourist navigation along Paduan canals and rivers. 9 10 6 The burci (or burchi), i.e. the typical Venetian barges, could easily moor anywhere along the river banks. In the Divine Comedy Dante reports that “As sometimes wherries lie upon the shore, That part are in the water, part on land...” (Hell, canto XVII, vv. 19-20). The itineraries include the navigation along the internal canals with beautiful views on the walls, the Brenta River and its imposing villas, the Euganea Riviera with its enchanting vegetation and historical sites, the way to the Venetian Lagoon. The story of river navigation and the life of the ‘barcari’ (boatmen) are widely narrated in the Museum of River Navigation in Battaglia Terme, which displays about four thousand pieces (boats, equipment, historic photos, old maps, books and documents) housed in an historical little palace built in beautiful position at the confluence of two canals. 17
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