Padua boasts over three thousand years of history, which have bequeathed to it a mine of monuments of great historical and artistic value.
According to the legend, also reported by Virgil in the Aeneid, the city was founded by the legendary Trojan hero Antenor, companion of Aeneas, whose tomb can be admired in the homonymous square in front of the Prefecture.
Padua is, among other things, universally known as “the city of Saint Anthony”, the Franciscan friar born in Lisbon in 1195, who lived here for a few years and died (June 13, 1231). His remains are preserved in the Basilica of Sant’Antonio, one of the most visited places of Christianity.
Padua is also known as “the city of the unnamed Saint”, “of the grass-free meadow” and “of the coffee without doors”. The reasons? Saint Anthony here is simply called “the Saint”, Prato della Valle is actually a square and the historic Caffè Pedrocchi was once open day and night, serving hot drinks along its gallery without doors.
Seat of the second oldest university in Italy (founded in 1222), where also taught Galileo Galilei who defined the period he lived here as «Li diciotto anni migliori di tutta la mia età» (the best eighteen years of my age), Padua boasts the second largest square in Europe, the aforementioned Prato della Valle, and houses one of the world’s masterpieces of 14th century art: the fresco of the Scrovegni Chapel painted by Giotto. Not only: it houses the first botanical garden built in the world, built back in 1545 on the lands of a Benedictine monastery and since 1997 a UNESCO site.
The territory of Padua is not only synonymous with art and culture but also with well-being and nature: the Euganean Spa have been offering health and relaxation for over two thousand years with over 100 hotels that are also spas, thanks to the precious water that rises in the pristine basins of the Pre-Alps and resurfaces at a temperature of 87°.
Padua is today a remarkable economic center, one of the most important and great centers of intermodal transports, also fluvial, of all Europe and currently represents the greatest interporto in the north and center Italy.
His cuisine is one of the most famous in the Venetian food and wine scene: among the dishes certainly not to be missed are the Paduan boiled, rice and bisi (risotto with peas), pasta and fasoi (egg pasta accompanied by beans) and the Paduan hen.
The charm of the city has been able to fascinate also William Shakespeare. The Great Bard talks about Padova in the comedy The Taming of the Shrew, set here.
Participating in the Padova Marathon will give you the opportunity to get to know a city rich in history, charm and culture and the beautiful territory that is the background.
If you are curious to find out more about Padova and its monuments, download here the information brochure “Padova. City of culture”..