Visit Este

The small town that inspired the poet Shelley

The historic town of Este in the province of Padua, with its varied and interesting architecture, is an excellent choice for a day trip from Padua as it takes under an hour by train and about 40 minutes by car.

You can walk into the centre of the town from the station in a few minutes, arriving in Piazza Maggiore, Este’s main square, in time for a drink before lunch.

The remains of the castle surrounded by gardens

Este is a wonderful example of ‘small town Italy’, with reasonably priced restaurants and bars, and plenty of things to see. It is unspoilt and relaxing to be there as it doesn’t get overcrowded with tourists.

To understand its 3000 year history, during which it has been ruled by Romans, Barbarians, important families during the medieval period, the Venetians, the French and the Austrians, you could not do much better than visit Este’s highly regarded Museo Nazionale Atestino. Right in the centre of the town, the museum is housed in Palazzo Mocenigo, a 16th century palace that incorporates part of the walls of the castle into its façade. There are said to be 65,000 items of historical significance in the museum’s collection.

Este’s castle was built in the 11th century by the Este family, who eventually moved on to Ferrara, where they built another, perhaps more famous, castle.

Este’s original castle was destroyed in the 14th century and then rebuilt by Ubertino da Carrara, Lord of Padova. He used it as a defensive outpost against the ruling families of Verona and Milan.

After Este and Padua were taken over by the Venetians, the castle was partially demolished and a wall and towers are all that remain today of the 14th century structure. Inside the walls, there is a beautiful garden, which is open to the public and is a lovely place to sit and rest, particularly when the rose garden is in full bloom.

Piazza Maggiore is in the centre of town

Este’s most important church, the Duomo of Santa Tecla, was erected in the 17th century on the site of an earlier church. It is well worth a visit, if only to see the large painting by Giambattista Tiepolo depicting Santa Tecla praying for the deliverance of Este from the plague.

While in Este you can also see the Villa Kunkler, which was rented by the English poet, Lord Byron, in the early years of the nineteenth century. He allowed his fellow poet and friend, Percy Shelley, to live there with his family between 1817 and 1818. Shelley was so inspired by the natural beauty of his surroundings he wrote some of his best poetry there, including Lines Written Among the Euganean Hills. Inspired by Este he wrote:

‘Of old forests echoing round

And the light and smell divine

Of all flowers that breathe and shine:

We may live so happy there,

That the Spirits of the Air

Envying us, may even entice

To our healing paradise

The polluting multitude:

But their rage would be subdu’d

By that clime divine and calm,

And the winds whose wings rain balm

On the uplifted soul, and leaves

Under which the bright sea heaves;’

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Orto Botanico in Padua

Botanical Garden inspired the German writer Goethe
 

The world’s first botanical garden created for educational purposes was opened in Padua in 1545.

Orto Botanico, which has now been listed by UNESCO as a World Heritage Site, was devoted to the growth of medicinal plants that could provide natural remedies for treating illnesses.

Orto Botanico in Padua was designed
 in accordance with Renaiisance ideals

The garden was designed for Padua University by Bergamo architect Andrea Moroni, who based it on a detailed architectonic plan in accordance with Renaissance ideals. It is laid out in the form of a circle enclosing a square, which was divided into four quadrants, in which the plants were grown.

The oldest and most important plants were grown in the hub of the garden, known as the hortus spahaericus.

These include a palm (Chamaerops humilis) planted in 1585, which became known as Goethe’s palm, because the German writer made a careful study of it in 1786 and drew from it his intuitions about evolution. He later published his ideas in an essay about the metamorphosis of plants.

The garden also has greenhouses, which were added at the beginning of the 19th century, and a library, where old scientific documents are preserved.

Padua’s Orto Botanico is still used for research into rare plants and threatened species, with a view to reintroducing them to their natural environment.

The garden is in Via Orto Botanico close to Prato della Valle, one of the city’s main squares, where there is a tram stop. It is open to the public every day, but has closed temporarily due to the Covid 19 pandemic.

 

 

The Baptistery in Padua

Dazzling fresco cycle has survived nearly 700 years

Standing next to the Duomo in Piazza Duomo, Padua’s Baptistery (Battistero) is a superb example of Romanesque architecture.

The original building was constructed in the 12th century but it was modified in about 1370 to become a memorial chapel for Francesco il Vecchio di Carrara and his wife, Fina Buzzacarini.

The 14th century Baptistery is to the right of the Duomo

The couple invited the artist Giusto de’ Menabuoi to fresco the interior with pictures representing stories from the Bible.

De’ Menabuoi, who was originally from Florence, worked on the interior of the Baptistery between 1376 and 1378. His frescos are remarkable for the brilliance of the colours he used and the details from the Bible he brings to life.

To understand the cycle of pictures you should ideally stand near the old entrance to the Baptistery, which was sealed up when the building was modified. Traces of it can be seen in the structure of arches.

The cycle begins in the cupola with Paradise and finishes in the apse with the Apocalypse. There are 37 episodes from Genesis that lead on in sequence to the 43 scenes from the last book of the New Testament.

In the centre of the apse, on a small marble altar, is a Polyptych, also by De’ Menabuoi, featuring the Madonna and Child, with a picture of the Baptism of Christ above it, while on either side are panels depicting the stories of the Saints.

In the panel showing Christ healing the sick, look out for a figure in a red headdress, which is believed to be a portrait of the poet Petrarch, who died shortly before the frescos were painted.

Venetian soldiers damaged the Cararra family’s grand burial monuments in 1405 and daubed green paint on the emblems of Francesco il Vecchio, but restoration work was carried out on the Baptistery in the 20th century.

Visitors to the Baptistery can see how the Duomo would have looked in the 14th century, before its 16th century makeover, as it appears in De’ Menabuoi’s frescos.

The Baptistery is open from 10 am to 6 pm every day.

Feast of Saint Giustina

Today Padova celebrates the feast day of Santa Giustina, evoking the memory of a young woman executed on this day in 304 during the Roman Empire's last major purge of Christians.

Giustina, in a painting here by Bartolomeo
Montagna, hailed from a noble family

Giustina was born into a noble family in Padova but little is known about her apart from her faith. A pretty girl who would have had many suitors, she took a vow of chastity and devoted her life instead to God, and to teaching the values of Christianity.

She was a victim of the purge of Christians undertaken by the Emperor Diocletian, the last major attempt to stamp out what was regarded by the Romans as a subversive cult.

He was carrying out an edict that rescinded all legal rights for Christians and compelled Christians to sacrifice to Roman gods or face imprisonment or execution.

What became known as the Diocletian Persecution concentrated first on purging the Roman military of Christians and then broadened to the population in general.

When Diocletian's officers confronted Giustina in Padova, they ordered her to go to the Roman temple to Minerva to worship the Roman goddess, offer her virginity as sacrifice and renounce Christianity.

Because she refused to do so and denounced the Roman gods, Giustina was condemned to death.  The execution is said to have taken place at Pontecorvo, where she was stabbed through the heart with a sword.

The vast Basilica di Santa Giustina overlooks Prato della
Valle, one of Padova's main squares

Within a few years, following the Edict of Milan in 313, Christianity had been made legal within the Roman Empire for the first time.

It came too late for Giustina, whose body was buried in a cemetery near what was then the Zairo Roman theatre and now lies beneath the altar table in the magnificent Basilica di Santa Giustina, with its eight domes, which was built the 16th century on the site of the cemetery.

The ninth largest Christian church in the world, the basilica houses the remains of many revered saints, including those of St Luke the Evangelist, who is credited with writing the Gospel According to St Luke.

Giustina is a patron saint of many other Italian municipalities in addition to Padova and a co-patron saint of Venice, where she became extremely popular for a number of years following the Battle of Lepanto in 1571.

This was a naval battle between a coalition of Catholic maritime states brought together by Pope Pius V and the Turkish fleet which took place on her feast day - October 7 - and which was decisive in halting the expansion of the Ottoman Empire on the European side of the Mediterranean.

The Basilica di Santa Giustina is situated at the south-east corner of the elliptical piazza known as Prato della Valle.  Among many things worth seeing is a magnificent altarpiece painted by Paolo Veronese in 1575, depicting the moment of her death.

Next door to the basilica there is a Benedictine monastery with frescoed cloisters and a famous library that can be visited by arrangement. Admission to the basilica is free. It is open from 7.30am until noon and from 3pm until 6.30pm (7.30pm on Sundays).

Prato della Valle, built on the site of a former Roman  theatre,
 is notable for its 78 statues of eminent citizens of Padova

The Prato della Valle is built on the site of the Zairo theatre on land which fell into disuse and became flooded following the fall of the Roman Empire.  The land was drained in the 18th century and a canal crossed by four bridges was created around an island planted with trees and lawns, which was later lined by statues of 78 eminent citizens of Padova.

The nearby Ristorante Zairo contains statues and wall decorations that recall the chariot races and other activities that would have taken place in the theatre. Diners can also see a 17th century fresco that came to light when renovations uncovered part of the structure of a former church.

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La Lanterna Pizzeria Ristorante Padova

Enjoy a taste of the Mediterranean at long-established Padua restaurant 

In a good position in Piazza dei Signori in the centre of Padua, La Lanterna Pizzeria Ristorante has been serving up delicious, Mediterranean-inspired dishes for more than fifty years.

La Lanterna in Piazza dei Signori

The many speciality dishes on the menu are influenced by the origins of the owner, Signor Antonio Ruggiero, who comes from Salerno in Campania.

The atmosphere of the restaurant is very welcoming and the staff are friendly and always delighted to describe the ingredients used in the many tempting dishes on offer.

The menu has a wide range of antipasti, a good selection of pasta dishes, traditional fish dishes, such as branzino and orata, and classic meat dishes, such as filetto al pepe verde (fillet steak in a green pepper sauce) and scaloppine al marsala (veal marsala).

The pizza oven serves up all the classics, as well as some adventurous concoctions, on bases made in the traditional style of the city where the pizza was born, Naples.

There is a good choice of reasonably-priced wines as well as a selection of spirits and soft drinks.

Speciality dishes include scampi alla griglia, pacheri allo scoglio (tube-shaped pasta with sea food) and pizza mediterraneo.

Tagliatelle alla Lanterna 

The Best of Padua editor says: ‘My favourite pasta dish is Tagliatelle alla Lanterna, which is tagliatelle served with prawns in a delicious, creamy, tomato sauce, and I particularly enjoyed the local white wine I had ordered to go with it.’

La Lanterna Pizzeria Ristorante is on the right side of Piazza dei Signori as you look towards Palazzo del Capitano, with its elegant Torre dell’Orologio, a tower that houses clockworks that are believed to be the oldest still in existence in Italy.

La Lanterna is just a short walk away from Piazza dei Frutti and Piazza delle Erbe and is also close to the Duomo.

For more information about the restaurant, visit www.lalanternapadova.it.

La Lanterna is open from 12.00 to 15.00 and from 18.00 to 24.00 and is closed on Thursdays. 

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