Padua

The historic center of the city, crossed by the winding Bacchiglione river and by other smaller streams, is set within the “Venetian" sixteenth-century walls, in part still well- preserved and visible.
Noteworthy are the numerous monuments. Particularly worth remembering are: the famous Cappella degli Scrovegni, with frescoes painted by Giotto between 1303 and 1305, the Palazzo della Ragione, the Duomo, with the adjoining Battistero, the church of the Eremitani, the cappella Ovetari, in which two frescoes by Mantegna are preserved, the so-called Tomba di Antenore, the Palazzo del Bo' and the famous neoclassical Pedrocchi coffee bar.
South of the city center stands the magnificent Basilica of Sant' Antonio from Padua, called "il Santo” (“the saint”), constructed between the thirteenth and the fourteenth century with a combination of Romanesque, Gothic and Oriental elements, covered by eight cupolas and adorned with fourteenth-century frescoes, bronzes by Donatello and the sixteenth-century cappella of the Arca del Santo. The adjacent oratory of San Giorgio preserves frescoes of the fourteenth century, while the Scuola del Santo is adorned by frescoes of Titian. In the large square in front of the Basilica stands the monument to Gattamelata, also by Donatello.
Not very far away one finds the Prato della Valle, a very large piazza with the Memmia island at its center, surrounded by a channel and 78 statues, and the basilica of Santa Giustina. Certainly worth visiting is the Botanical Garden of Padua (1545), the world’s most ancient, included on the Unesco World Heritage Site list because of its historical and scientific value in 1997.

The Paduan cuisine is very similar to the Venetian cuisine. Typical are the rice and the tagliatelle in duck stock and the risotto with "rovinassi." Among the sweets are the "pinza," "fugassa", "smegiassa", and "sugoli." For DOC wines there is the Colli Euganei denomination, white and red; in addition there are red wines such as the Cabernet and the Merlot, and white wines such as the Moscato, the Pinot Bianco and the Tocai Italico.