Padua (redirected from Padua, Italy)

Padua (păd`yə), Ital. Padova, city (1991 pop. 215,137), capital of Padova prov., in Venetia, NE Italy, connected by canal with the Brenta, Adige, and Po rivers. It is an agricultural, commercial, and major industrial center and a transportation junction. Manufactures include machinery, motor vehicles, leather goods, textiles, and processed food. Called Patavium by the Romans, it was second to Rome in wealth. The city was destroyed by the Lombards in A.D. 601 but recovered quickly. Except for a 20-year period of rule by Ezzelino da Romano, Padua was from the 12th to the 14th cent. a free commune of great political and economic importance. It subdued neighboring cities and became an artistic center, where Giotto painted his masterpiece, a series of frescoes (1304–6) in the Capella degli Scrovegni. Under the rule of the munificent Carrara family (1318–1405) and under the domination of Venice (1405–1797), Padua continued to flourish. Mantegna (1431–1506), a native of Padua, produced much work there; parts of frescoes executed by him are preserved in the 13th-century Eremitani church. Other notable structures in the city include the six-domed basilica of St. Anthony (1232–1307), whose high altar is adorned with bronzes by Donatello; the bronze equestrian statue of Gattamelata (a Venetian general), also by Donatello, in the square of the basilica; the classical cathedral; and the law courts. The Univ. of Padua, the oldest in Italy after that of Bologna, was founded in 1222 by teachers and students who had fled from Bologna. Now centered in Il Bo palace, the university established the first anatomy hall (well preserved) in Europe in 1594. Galileo taught (1592–1610) at the university, and Dante, Petrarch, and Tasso were students there.

---

Padua

 Italian Padova ancient Patavium

City (pop., 2001 prelim.: 203,350), northern Italy. Legend holds that it was founded by the Trojan hero Antenor. First mentioned in 302 BC, it prospered as a Roman city and was under Lombard rule in the 7th–8th centuries. A leading Italian commune in the 11th–13th centuries, control of Padua then passed to Venice from 1405 to 1797. Under Austrian rule (1815–66) the city was active in the Risorgimento (movement for Italian independence). Padua was heavily bombed in World War II but was rebuilt. Its historic buildings contain works by many artists, including Giotto, Titian, Donatello, and Mantegna. The University of Padua (1222), the second oldest in Italy (after Bologna), had Galileo among its teachers and Dante, Petrarch, and Tasso among its students. Padua's botanical garden (1545) is the oldest in Europe. The city is now a commercial and industrial centre.