Padova pages

Maybe you could tell: I was in a hurry to be done with writing about Verona, because we were already in Padova, and Wow! What a great little city this is. Of course there was another train two hours later, and the nice lady at TrenItalia got us on it without it costing a penny.

If you're interested in Renaissance art, Padova has some delights for you. On the last page you saw a picture of the Basilica of Saint Anthony of Padua; during the day, it is the destination for hundreds of earnest pilgrims come to give thanks, or beg intercession, for one of St...

Giotto's jewel box is a small chapel (by Duomo/Basilica standards) that may have seated as many as 60 people in its heydey in the early 1500s. Papa Scrovegni was a notoriously successful loan shark, and, upon his death the jealous church fathers (the spiritual forebearers of the thugs that don't allow pictures in churches) decreed that he could not be buried in hallowed ground for his sin of usury...

What could top the Capella Scrovegni? Nothing. Giotto at the top of his game is arguably one of the best painters of all time. But the context he worked in is a fascinating part of the story -- as it influenced him, and he influenced it...

I have always been captivated by markets, and the ones in Europe are spectacular. There is a lot of choice; there is clearly a relationship between the habitual buyers, who have their favorite stalls and greet the stallkeepers like old friends...