Day 20. Monday 19th April.
Padua has an impressive lively and convivial feel. Filled with students, the sort of place where folks are getting on with their day-to-day lives. Unlike Venice which is all tourism.
The Cappella degli Scovegne was built as a shoe in to eternal redemption, for the son of a notorious usurer. The interior walls were covered in frescoes by the then, man of the moment, Giotto, in three years from 1303 and represent a turning point in European painting. Honestly, its such a faf getting in, buying your tickets well in advance, timed entry, which if you miss by a second you loose and have to pay again, it’s a testament to the frescos that so many of us are prepared to suffer the rig marole.
The baptistery of the Duomo is a treasured gem of a building with frescoes by Menabuoi, which we loved.
A quick visit to the tomb of St Anthony, lines of the poor and the sick throwing money (offerings) into several judiciously placed boxes in the hope of a cure. I had tears streaming down my face but it was hay fever (i'm a martyr to it in the spring) and not emotion. Maybe I should have made an offering?
Late lunch in the lively Piazza dell erbe, one of two dayly markets, which was crowded with celebrating students, many wearing laurel wreaths, and surrounded by families and friends. Some kind of graduation we guessed.
Made the discovery of the year, Gelateria Grom. (remember that name)
Thankfully part of a chain, selling the most deliriously fabulous ice cream ever, and in Italy that’s no mean feat.
Ended the day in the L'orto Botanico, the world’s first botanic garden. Started by the University of Padua in 1545 for the study of medicinal plants and responsible for the dissemination of Potatoes, tomatoes, lilacs and yellow jasmine, to name but a few.
The layout and many of the plants are original and what a treat to end the day.Tempted to visit the gleaming new IKEA (there’s always something we need from Ikea) on the way home but batteries were low so deferred.
Padua has an impressive lively and convivial feel. Filled with students, the sort of place where folks are getting on with their day-to-day lives. Unlike Venice which is all tourism.
The Cappella degli Scovegne was built as a shoe in to eternal redemption, for the son of a notorious usurer. The interior walls were covered in frescoes by the then, man of the moment, Giotto, in three years from 1303 and represent a turning point in European painting. Honestly, its such a faf getting in, buying your tickets well in advance, timed entry, which if you miss by a second you loose and have to pay again, it’s a testament to the frescos that so many of us are prepared to suffer the rig marole.
The baptistery of the Duomo is a treasured gem of a building with frescoes by Menabuoi, which we loved.
A quick visit to the tomb of St Anthony, lines of the poor and the sick throwing money (offerings) into several judiciously placed boxes in the hope of a cure. I had tears streaming down my face but it was hay fever (i'm a martyr to it in the spring) and not emotion. Maybe I should have made an offering?
Late lunch in the lively Piazza dell erbe, one of two dayly markets, which was crowded with celebrating students, many wearing laurel wreaths, and surrounded by families and friends. Some kind of graduation we guessed.
Made the discovery of the year, Gelateria Grom. (remember that name)
Thankfully part of a chain, selling the most deliriously fabulous ice cream ever, and in Italy that’s no mean feat.
Ended the day in the L'orto Botanico, the world’s first botanic garden. Started by the University of Padua in 1545 for the study of medicinal plants and responsible for the dissemination of Potatoes, tomatoes, lilacs and yellow jasmine, to name but a few.
The layout and many of the plants are original and what a treat to end the day.Tempted to visit the gleaming new IKEA (there’s always something we need from Ikea) on the way home but batteries were low so deferred.
I cannot believe that after all that beauty and classicism you were able to give up a visit to the Temple of Ikea - but I suppose with all that posing in blazers and leaning on gate posts something had to give.
ReplyDeleteLove that top photograph. Truly stunning.
Hils theres that man again in the snazzy blue same blazer and in the exact same position in the photos. I reckon they've got their own stalker you know!
ReplyDelete