Welcome to Villa Due Giardini

Piazza dei Signori is one of the most important squares in the historical centre of Padua and one of the liveliest and most animated meeting places in the whole city: walking here, as in Piazza delle Erbe or Piazza della Frutta, means experiencing the real daily life of the city, during the day but also in the evening, when it becomes one of the most important centres of Padua's nightlife, especially in the summer months.

Piazza dei Signori is so called because it was once home to the "Palazzo della Signoria", the Reggia dei Carraresi, lords of Padua from 1318 to 1405, and its history summarises the history of Padua.

 The square is dominated by the famous clock tower.

"is a beautiful lead-covered tower that houses the very artificial clock that, beyond the beating and the display of the time, shows the day of the month, the course of the sun in the twelve signs of the zodiac, the days of the moon, its aspects with the sun, & its growing and darkening. He was the inventor of this wonderful work of art, Giovanni Dondio, a noble doctor from Padua, & a celebrated astrologer, whose family then began to be called watchmakers for this wonderful clock" (Angelo Portenari, Della Felicità di Padova, 1623).

To know more:

http://www.avrvm.it/le-piu-importanti-piazze-di-padova-e-il-palazzo-della-ragione/

http://www.padovanet.it/informazione/piazza-dei-signori

Prato della Valle is one of the largest squares in Europe (about 90,000 square metres).

The 78 statues that adorn the elliptical perimeter of the base surrounding Isola Memmia celebrate illustrious people born or lived in Padua, many of whom are still famous today, such as the mythical founder of the city, Antenore, the poet Torquato Tasso, or the scientist Galileo Galilei. 

Every Saturday the Prato della Valle market gives the area a lively provincial atmosphere thanks to its weekly market. Stalls selling clothing, footwear, plants, flowers, wickerwork objects that occupy almost all the space surrounding Isola Memmia.  It is a fixed appointment for Padua and it is always pleasant to go through it and browse here and there, feeling part of the city.

To know more about it:

http://www.padovanet.it/informazione/prato-della-valle

http://www.blogdipadova.it/mercato-prato-della-valle/

The Pontifical Basilica Minor of St. Anthony of Padua is one of the main Catholic places of worship in the city of Padua, in Veneto. Known by the people of Padua simply as the Saint, it is one of the largest churches in the world and is visited annually by over 6.5 million pilgrims, making it one of the most revered sanctuaries in the Christian world. However, it is not the cathedral of the city, which is the title of the cathedral. It houses the relics of St. Anthony of Padua and his tomb.

http://www.santantonio.org/it/basilica/percorso-artistico

https://www.padovanet.it/informazione/basilica-del-santo

The botanical garden of Padua, founded in 1545, is the oldest botanical garden in the world still in its original location. Located in an area of about 2.2 hectares, it is located in the historical centre of Padua, near the Prato della Valle.

Since the sixteenth century, the Garden of Padua has exerted a profound influence in the scientific environment, both national and European. As an important centre of study and research at the forefront in the cultivation and acclimatisation of exotic plants, it represented a model for the establishment of similar structures.
The Garden of Padua, defined for this reason "the mother" of all botanical gardens in the world, has not only represented the culture of botanical science, but has also played a very important role in the development of many other scientific disciplines, such as medicine, chemistry, ecology and pharmacology.
It has been a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1997.

To discover more:

http://www.ortobotanicopd.it

The Caffè Pedrocchi, located in the centre of Padua, is an internationally renowned historical café. Open day and night until 1916 and therefore also known as the "Caffè senza porte", for over a century it has been a prestigious meeting point frequented by intellectuals, students, academics and politicians.  On 8 February 1848, the wounding of a university student inside the café started the Italian Risorgimento uprisings; still today the episode is remembered in the official university anthem.
The Pedrocchi is one of the symbols of Padua, recognised as the most exclusive venue in the city centre and an elected place for coffee tasting.
First of all is certainly the famous Pedrocchi coffee, an espresso served in a large cup with an emulsion of cream and mint completed with a sprinkling of cocoa.

To discover more:

www.caffepedrocchi.it

The Scrovegni Chapel is a museum site located in the historical centre of Padua and houses a famous cycle of frescoes by Giotto from the early 14th century and is considered one of the masterpieces of Western art.  Since 2006 the Scrovegni Chapel is a candidate to become the second UNESCO World Heritage Site in Padua (the first is the Botanical Garden of the sixteenth century).
was built by Enrico degli Scrovegni, son of a very rich usurer from Padua who had bought the area of the ancient Roman arena in Padua from a decayed nobleman at the beginning of the 14th century. Here he provided to build a sumptuous palace, of which the chapel was a private oratory and future family mausoleum. He called the Florentine Giotto, who was in Padua called by the Friars Minor Conventual to fresco the chapel, the Chapel of Blessings and perhaps other spaces in the Basilica of St. Anthony.

http://www.cappelladegliscrovegni.it

http://www.padovanet.it/informazione/cappella-degli-scrovegni

Palazzo Bo, located in the centre of the city between Caffè Pedrocchi and the Town Hall.

It is the historical seat of the University of Padua since 1493, a prestigious university that hosted illustrious figures such as Galileo, Copernicus, Pope Sixtus IV, Stefan I Bathory (King of Poland), Ippolito Nievo, Giovanni Battista Morgagni (founder of pathological anatomy), William Harvey (who discovered blood circulation during her studies in Padua), and Elena Lucrezia Cornaro Piscopia, Venetian noblewoman known as the first woman to graduate in the world, having obtained a degree in philosophy at the University of Padua in 1678.

It is still today the seat of the Rectorate and the Faculty of Law. It is also home to the oldest anatomical theatre in the world, the first in Europe, conceived in 1594 by the famous pathologist Girolamo Fabrizi d'Acquapendente, and inaugurated in January 1595.
The theatre, unique of its kind, also because it was the only place where corpses could be dissected for scientific purposes, is composed of six elliptical wooden floors, seating 300 people, which rise up around the anatomical table.
To discover more:

http://www.unipd.it/palazzo-bo-teatro-anatomico

http://www.unipd.it/elena-lucrezia-cornaro-piscopia

"There are two beautiful and capable squares on the Austral & Aquilonare side of the same building; one is called the wine, the other the fruit, both surrounded by beautiful & honoured factories of details" (Angelo Portenari, Della Felicità di Padova, 1623).

The Piazza delle Erbe e delle Frutta (Squares of Herbs and Fruit), which open up in the centre of Padua, still retain the commercial aspect, indicated by the titles, for which they were created in the Middle Ages and are among the most picturesque in Italy.
They form, one can say, a single large area, divided only by the large body of the Palazzo della Ragione which dominates them with its bulk and characterises them.

What gives a particular attraction to the two squares is the spectacle they offer every day, especially in the morning hours: a spectacle in which the centuries-old tradition of merchant and popular life attested by the memories of the chroniclers is perpetuated.

One of the largest markets in Italy takes place in the two squares: from the four rows of shops at the Show and from those under the arcades, ladling their wares, the open-air market spreads out with stalls covering both squares.
The crowds of buyers, the people walking around, the stop in the open air bars for the "Spritz" ritual and the flights of pigeons create that animation, that buzz, that atmosphere that makes every market in every city the most lively and genuine manifestation of the people's soul.

To discover more:

http://www.padovaoggi.it/blog/vivipadova/la-storia-di-piazza-delle-erbe-padova.html

The Palazzo della Ragione, also called the Salone, was the ancient seat of the city courts and the covered market of Padua. It was built in 1218 and raised in 1306 by Giovanni degli Eremitani, who gave it the characteristic roof in the shape of an overturned ship's hull. The upper floor is occupied by the largest hanging room in the world, called "Salone" (measuring 81 metres by 27 metres in height) .  The lower floor, also today called "under the Salon", houses the "Botteghe" (shops). Historical and characteristic food shops full of typical products coming from all over Italy. The old shops under the Salone are one of the most suggestive and characteristic corners of Padua. 

Recently the market under the Salone of Palazzo della Ragione has been restored. The restoration, which also involved the basement of the Palace, allows you to appreciate the medieval and Roman remains, as well as the stratigraphic growth of the city.

To discover more:

http://www.padovanet.it/informazione/visite-guidate-ai-sotterranei-di-palazzo-della-ragione

http://www.padovanet.it/informazione/palazzo-della-ragione