The Basilica of Sant’Antonio (or Basilica del Santo) is one of the most famous and visited sanctuaries in the world, located in Piazza del Santo in Padua, a few hundred meters from Prato della Valle, it was built between 1232 and half of the 1300 to guard the tomb of Sant’Antonio di Padova.

It is characterized by the presence of different elements and styles fused together in a harmonious way: the facade is Romanesque, with exposed brick walls, the rose window, arches and Gothic buttresses; the roof consists of eight lead-covered Byzantine domes and two slender and slender bell towers reminiscent of Islamic minarets. The three bronze doors are the work of Camillo Boito. The lunette of the central portal is a copy of the fresco originally painted by Andrea Mantegna and now preserved in the Antoniano Museum.

THE TREASURE CHAPEL – In which the most precious relics of Saint Anthony are kept: the reliquary of the uncorrupted tongue of the Saint, a masterpiece of 1434 by Giuliano da Firenze, the reliquary of the chin of the Saint and that of the laryngeal cartilages and the Memoirs of the Saint, the cassock, the original plaque and other finds placed after the reconnaissance carried out in 1981.

THE ARK OF THE SAINT – Immediately afterwards there is the Chapel of Sant’Antonio, or Arca, the real heart of the Basilica, where the tomb of the Saint is kept, thousands of people pass by each year and touch it as a sign of luck.

THE ALTAR OF THE HOLY – At the center of the Basilica of Sant’Antonio stands the High Altar, which collects the over thirty works created by Donatello between 1443 and 1450, an absolute masterpiece of Renaissance art.

The Donatellian complex consists of seven all-round statues, a crucifix and twenty-three bronze bas-reliefs, plus a relief made of Nanto stone that adorns the back of the main altar and depicts the Deposition of Christ.

The statues depict the Madonna and Child, surrounded by the patrons of the city, Santa Giustina, San Daniele, San Ludovico and San Prosdocimo with San Francesco and Sant’Antonio.

The Cloisters of the Basilica of Sant’Antonio:
In addition to the Basilica of Sant’Antonio, the Antonian complex consists of four splendid cloisters, and the adjacent rooms: The Cloister of the Novitiate, overlooked by the rooms of the Convent was built in the second half of the fifteenth century in Gothic style.

The Cloister of the Magnolia (or Cloister of the Chapter) is so called because of the splendid magnolia plant planted in 1810.
From the General Cloister, a work from 1435 by Cristoforo da Bolzano, you enter the rooms of the prestigious Antoniana Library.
The west side hosts the Antoniana Exhibition, an audiovisual realization of the life of Saint Anthony.

The marvelous Cloister of Blessed Luca Belludi, built in gothic forms, dates back to the end of the fifteenth century: the Centro di Studi Antoniani, the Museum of popular devotion and the Antoniano Museum overlook it.
The Antonian Museum: which collects the artistic treasures – paintings, sculptures, plaster casts, sacred vestments, tapestries and goldsmiths – made over the centuries for the Basilica del Santo. These include an altarpiece by Tiepolo and the detached lunette made by Andrea Mantegna in 1452 for the central portal of the Basilica which depicts the Monogram of Christ between Saints Antonio and Bernardino.
The Museum is open every day from 9 am to 1 pm and from 2:30 pm to 6:30 pm. Entrance costs € 2.50.

The Basilica of Santa Giustina is one of the biggest Churches in the Christian world, and one of the greatest masterpieces of Renaissance architecture, overlooking the large open space of Prato della Valle.

Its origins are very ancient: a first building was erected after the Edict of Milan in 313 to guard the tomb of Santa Giustina Martire and was later rebuilt by the patrician Opilione in the fifth century.
The current Roman-Gothic basilica was rebuilt in the sixteenth century by various architects, but it was above all the contribution of Andrea Moroni from Bergamo that was decisive.
The plan of the Basilica is a latin cross, internally divided into three naves covered by barrel vaults. The structure has eight domes and a bell tower. The interior of the Basilica is imposing and bright: in the center of the central nave there is a wooden crucifix from the fifteenth century, while the presbytery is decorated with stalls carved in walnut by Riccardo Taurigny.
At the end of the choir, leaning against a curve of the apse, there is the grandiose altarpiece of the Martyrdom of Santa Giustina, built in 1575 by Veronese.
The structure also houses the university college, the library, specialized in theological sciences and monastic history, and the book restoration laboratory.

The Church of the Eremitani houses the Ovetari Chapel, famous for the cycle of frescoes made by Andrea Mantegna, built between 1260 and 1306 for the Eremitani friars of Sant’Agostino. In the fourteenth century it became one of the most important Churches in Padua, and was decorated by the major artists operating in the city.

The external appearance of the Church is characterized by the warm tonality of the exposed terracotta. The hull ceiling, of great architectural interest, is the work of Frà Giovanni degli Eremitani. Inside, the tombs of famous people are visible lined up along the walls, including those of Jacopo and Ubertino Da Carrara and the mausoleum of the humanist Marco Mantova Benavides. In the right arm of the transept of the Church of the Eremitani there is the Ovetari Chapel, famous for the cycle of frescoes made by Andrea Mantegna between 1448 and 1457.

The Eremitani Museum, born around the mid-nineteenth century, is housed in the cloisters of the former convent adjacent to the Church of the Eremitani.

The Archaeological Museum (divided into pre-Roman and Roman sections) houses a vast collection of portraits and mosaics and the Museum of Medieval and Modern Art which contains paintings made between the thirteenth and sixteenth centuries by great masters (Jacopo and Giovanni Bellini, Mantegna, Tiepolo, Tiziano, Giorgione and Tintoretto) and a famous crucifix by Giotto, originally made for the Scrovegni Chapel.
The Museum of Applied Arts, which collects various types of artifacts (ceramics, silver, glass, jewelery) and the Bottaccin Museum, full of coins and ancient medals, have been transferred to the new museum site of Palazzo Zuckermann, in nearby Via Garibaldi.

The Museum is open every day from Tuesday to Sunday, from 9 am to 7 pm (with the exception of Christmas, S.Stefano, New Year and 1st May).
The ticket allows you to visit the Museums, the Scrovegni Chapel (by reservation) and Palazzo Zuckermann and costs € 12.00.
There is a reduced ticket from the cost of € 8.00 for young people, while children up to six years and the disabled do not pay.

The Basilica del Duomo is famous for its Baptistery, which contains one of the most spectacular and best preserved pictorial cycles of the fourteenth century, dedicated to Santa Maria Assunta, was built in its current form by Andrea da Valle on a Michelangelo project of 1551, in replacement of the Cathedral damaged by the terrible earthquake of 1117.
However, the Baptistery, still frescoed by the Florentine painter Giusto de’ Menabuoi, still impressed visitors, who created one of the most spectacular and best preserved pictorial cycles of the fourteenth century.
The Sacristy of the Canons preserves precious works of art including a Madonna and Child by Giusto de’ Menabuoi, two paintings by Giandomenico Tiepolo depicting San Filippo Neri and San Girolamo Emiliani and a Deposition by Jacopo da Montagnana.

The Baptistery of the Cathedral, dedicated to San Giovanni Battista, was built in Romanesque style in the twelfth century.
In the large dome of the Baptistery, Paradise is represented, at the center of which stands Christ Pantocrator holding the book of the Holy Scriptures. All around, there are the great figure of the Madonna and, arranged in concentric circles, the hosts of angels and saints.

The drum depicts 33 episodes from the book of Genesis, while the walls show the Stories of St John the Baptist, Mary and Christ, taken from the Gospels.

On the plumes find space the Evangelists flanked by the Prophets.
The main altar is surrounded by 43 panels representing scenes from the Apocalypse of San Giovanni, while the dome of the apse represents Pentecost. On the altar there is a tempera altarpiece on panel, also by Menabuoi: in the center the Madonna and Child are depicted, while the Stories of the Baptist and various figures of Saints are inserted on the side.

Bishop’s Palace and the Diocesan Museum

Adjacent to the Cathedral of Padua is the Bishop’s Palace which houses the Diocesan Museum set up on the occasion of the Jubilee of 2000.
The Museum contains valuable works of painting, sculpture and goldsmith works, illuminated manuscripts and sacred vestments from the territory of the Diocese of Padua, displayed according to chronological criteria.

Of great interest are the tables depicting the Episodes from the life of San Sebastiano, painted in 1367 by Nicoletto Semitecolo, collaborator of the Guariento.
The Chapel of Santa Maria degli Angeli was built in 1495 by the architect Lorenzo da Bologna and was frescoed by Prospero da Piazzola and Jacopo da Montagnana. The Triptych of the Annunciation painted by Jacopo da Montagnana is preserved in the high altar.

TIMETABLES AND TICKETS – The Museum is open on Thursdays, Fridays, Saturdays from 2:00 pm to 6:00 pm and on Sundays and public holidays from 10:00 am to 6:00 pm.
The ticket costs € 4.00; the single ticket which also allows entry to the Baptistery costs € 6.00. There are reduced entrance fees for students and over 65 years old, while children under six years, disabled people and religious do not pay.

The Church of Santa Sofia is one of the oldest in Padua: some elements testify to the existence of a very ancient structure, probably a pagan temple. Its construction dates back to the early twelfth century, but some of the elements that make it up testify to the existence of a previous older structure, probably a pagan temple dedicated to the Persian god Mithras.

A characteristic element of the Church of Santa Sofia is the apse, which has the shape of a large hemicycle, formed by the superposition of three orders of arches, built in different eras.
The internal wall of the hemicycle is crossed by niches similar to those on the external side; inside one of the niches there is a fresco depicting a Madonna and Child, attributed to Giovanni da Gaibana, while the fresco of the lunette above the access to the sacellum depicts the enthroned Madonna, from the Giotto school.
The high altar was adorned with an altarpiece made by Andrea Mantegna in 1448, of which, unfortunately, only evidence remains today.