Padua in northern Italy is one of those great old cities with a beautifully preserved historic
center. The pedestrian zone has got arcades and shops, bars and cafés, cobblestone and
broad piazzas, and lots of people out having a good time. We say "Padua," Italians say
"Padova." In this episode we are going to focus more on people and the street life rather
than historic sites like churches or museums. We will be showing you some great old buildings
and suggesting a nice walking route that will get you right around through the historic
center of Padua and will take you into the university district. Padua makes a very convenient
day trip from nearby Venice, which is just 24 miles away – it's about a half hour train
ride. Take the normal train and it will be quite inexpensive. You don't need the more
expensive fast train. The station is located in downtown but it's not in the historic center
– it's about a mile away. You can walk if you like, it's a pleasant stroll along a busy
commercial street or you could take the tram or hop on a city bus. Padua's tram is relatively
new having opened in the year 2009. And notice how easy it is to board – it is right at
street level as most European trams are. And you can buy your ticket from a machine right
at the tram stop. It just takes about 20 minutes walking, so if you have the time, consider
walking from the station to the center, and then later when your return to the station
you can take the tram. Pass a nice park along the way. It's called Giardini dell' Arena
because the ancient Roman amphitheater was on this location, and traces are still there.
When you arrive at the pedestrian zone the first landmark you're going to see is Piazza
Garibaldi with a column in the middle and some modern shops around it. The main pedestrian
street here is Via Cavour and it extends right through the historic center with a Piazza
Cavour on the side. Café Pedrocchi has been a cultural institution in the center for nearly
two centuries, built in a neoclassical and Egyptian style. Just around the corner on
the right side you'll find the Tourist Information Office which has the usual assortment of brochures
and a little free map, but if you want a good map you'll have to buy it at a newsstand.
One usually sees fun street entertainment when you're out walking in the pedestrian
centers of Europe, and here we've got some lively music from a little combo originally
from Montenegro. We will see them later on performing for a street party graduation of
some medical students. City Hall is in the Palazzo Moroni, a grand Renaissance-style
structure from the 16th century originally. It's got a 20th century façade and there's
a courtyard out back which is the oldest part of the building. You'll find the main piazzas
of town just one block over from that central pedestrian street. Well, in typical Italian
style you've got people out relax seeing, talking, having a drink, having a snack and
just generally taking it easy amidst the wonderful historic setting with some buildings going
back 700 years. We will spend quite a few minutes here exploring this great site. I'm
in the historic center of Padua which is one of the oldest cities in Italy, it dates back
3000 Years, founded way before the Romans and then during the Roman empire, it became
a very important city. This Piazza delle Erbe is punctuated by a grand fountain with a seating
bench all around it, and grand buildings and cafés, and this colossal Palazzo that we
will be taking you into shortly. They say it has the largest room ever constructed above
ground level in the Middle Ages. The grand Palazzo della Ragione is surrounded by three
primary piazzas - delle Erbe, dei Fruit and dei Signori. This is the heart of Padua. We're
in the Piazza delle Erbe, and this is a big gathering spot. The huge pavilion behind has
a lot of cafés and there are restaurants all around it, and a lot of pedestrian streets
here in Padua. It's also a university town with the second oldest university in the country
that was founded in 1222, and today there are lots of students around, it's a very big
and busy university. The town has a wonderful historic center with pedestrian lanes and
the loggia, with all of these arcades and columns. It's very pedestrian-friendly and
bicycle-friendly. People are pedaling all over the place here, and there's lots of cafés,
naturally, sidewalk cafés, people eating and drinking in the evening especially the
young people, who come out about 6 o'clock to 7 o'clock and have a spritz, or a beer,
have a wine at the café. And there are various historic sites associated with Padua. There's
the Scrovini Chapel with paintings by Giotto, and the great church of St. Anthony. It's
a wonderful spot, especially here in the historic center which goes for about 10 square blocks,
and there's a few cars and scooters but for the most part it's just for the people. One
of the very attractive elements of the city are the large number of arcaded streets. They
seem to go for many miles, with the columns and the arcades overhead to protect you from
the rain and the sun and makes a very nice inviting pedestrian atmosphere. Here in the
Piazza dei Signorione, of the three or four major squares of town – of course café
tables in the middle and loggia arcades all around it, and bicycles going through, scooters,
the occasional car. It's a wonderful peaceful spot here. The Piazza gets a little busier
later in the day say between 7 PM and 9 PM. Locals come out and sit, have a drink, maybe
have dinner at one of these restaurants. The Loggia of the Grand Guardia with its broad
staircase, a popular meeting spot, and columned portico, was built for the City Council 500
years ago. Now it's a conference and exhibit center. The Capitaniato is home to an arts
department of the University. There are some helpful signs that will show you distances
and directions, and notice the map – it has circles showing what's in a five-minute
walk from here and what's in a 10-minute walk. The neighborhood of San Niccolo is a little
off the beaten track for visitors, but it's a rewarding spot with these little piazzetas
does you've got the nice lanes with an arcade over the sidewalk. And they are is a piazza
with the church of San Niccolo. Via Santa Lucia is typical of the little back lanes
that you'll find around the edges of the historic center. Again, this might not be on too many
tourist maps but it's a pleasant stroll walking underneath the arcades and it's a little mysterious...what's
around the next bend. There are several side alleys that connect you back into the main
piazzas of town, and you'll find small shops and a few cafés along the side alleys as
well. In a few blocks you are back at the main Piazza delle Erbe . It seems like all
streets somehow lead you back to this central location. We have seen it before and will
return here in a little while, but for now we are going on to the main street of the
historic center. Two short blocks down Via San Canziano and we are at Via Roma, a wonderful
walking street. It really is the main pedestrian lane of Padua, and while it's not a piazza
it functions as one because there are no cars allowed, so it's long and narrow as a street
but filled with people. Several blocks on the west side of Via Roma are the old Jewish
ghetto, and it's an extremely well-preserved historic neighborhood. Isn't it great how
the character of the street is transformed when it's taken over by people? In this case
they plop down a sidewalk restaurant right in the middle of the street – no problem
because there are no cars coming by. There are so many arcaded sidewalks that one more
loggia might just seem normal but in this case it's the façade of the church, Santa
Maria dei Servi, and the interior has one of the most incredible Baroque altars anywhere
in Italy. The entrance is easy to miss i, t looks just like another door, but it's worth
popping inside for a moment. One of the main kinds of stores you'll find of course is for
ladies clothing, as always, and fashion is an item even here in Padua. These models are
out for a shoot with their photographer, looking for some kind of a historic backdrop no doubt.
If you have a little more time in your visit to Padua, explore that neighborhood just east
of Via Roma along Via San Francesco and some of the other side lanes. It's very historic
and here too you'll find a number of pedestrian lanes. Conversion of these neighborhoods to
the pedestrian zone started in Padua back in 1990, and naturally it's been gradually
expanding ever since, and that's the typical pattern that you find in many of the historic
cities of Europe. The old convent of San Francesco is just another block along the street. Via
Zabarella is typical of the side lanes, shared by pedestrians and bicycles and the odd car
– but look at these three bicycles using their mobile phones, one, two, three – not
supposed to do that while driving, but this is Italy. That little detour was fun and now
we are homing back on the main Piazza delle Erbe which is getting much busier now as twilight
descends. It's a little bit later than we showed you earlier and people are filtering,
sitting at the cafés and having their spritz, or wine, or beer. In this central part of
town there are the two Piazza, delle Erbe and dei Fruti and, they are flanking the Palazzo
della Ragione that we're to going take you inside in just a moment. On the ground floor
of the Palazzo you have got some markets – outdoors in the loggia around it and also inside running
through it in two different corridors. There's been a food market on this site in this lower
level in continuous operation for the last 800 years. in the morning there is a bigger
fresh produce market out in the piazza and these interior shops are open all day. Okay
now were going to take you into the Palazzo della Ragione , also called the Salone, which
opened for business in the year 1219. Nice view of Piazza delle Erbe from the loggia.
Inside we have the Great Hall which is reputed to have the largest roof unsupported by columns
in all of Europe, and they say it was the largest room constructed above ground level
in the Middle Ages. This great building was completed by the year 1219 and later that
century Giotto painted frescoes on the wall. However there was a great fire in 1420 that
destroyed much of it. This current wooden roof was built and 300 fresco paintings were
created in the mid-15th century depicting the apostles and the Virgin and signs of the
zodiac. The large wooden horse is about 500 years old and based on the bronze original
by Donatelo. These highly decorated loggia were added to the building about a century
later. There's a lovely view from above and this grand staircase will lead you right back
down into the Piazza delle Erbe. A block away in front of City Hall we found some sort of
a street party going on. Turns out they are celebrating graduation day at the Padua medical
school. It's the oldest medical school in the world, first founded with the University
in the year 1222. And this being Italy they know how to celebrate in the streets. Amazing
to think this ritual has been going on annually for about 800 years. And Padua still has one
of the best medical schools in the world. The University has been associated with a
large number of important intellectuals such as Copernicus, Galileo, Stendhal and William
Harvey, who developed his system of blood circulation here. The university medical school
has the oldest anatomy lab in the world and the university also hosts the oldest botanical
garden in the world, which was used as a garden of curative herbs attached to the medical
school. When done with your visit to Padua you can catch the tram right back to the train
station. It's about one mile so you can walk it, but by now you're probably kind of tired,
so it's nice to get on this tram, very quick and smooth. You'll reach the station in five
minutes. This assumes that you're not staying overnight in Padua, which you don't really
need to do. You can easily see Padua in a half-day or if you like a full day and return
to your home base, which is most conveniently in Venice, just a half an hour away by train.
Very simple to buy your train ticket at the station using the machines. In this case it's
under five euro for the one-way trip back to Venice and they will take credit cards
or cash. They have a grand piano set out so anybody can just sit down and start playing
and entertain you. Stazione di Padua is one of the biggest train stations in Italy with
11 platforms and more than 450 trains a day passing through, including some of the high-speed
trains that connect Venice with Milan. You don't need to catch one of the high-speed
trains back to Venice because the regular speed gets you there and just about the same
time and it's a lot cheaper, and service is more frequent. In just 30 minutes you're back
in Venice