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All that the traveller has to do is to leave the train at Padua overnight and he will be very glad to do so, for that last five-hour lap from Milan to Venice is very trying, with all the disentanglement of registered luggage at the end of it before one can get to the hotel and spend the next morning in exploring Padua's own riches: Giotto's frescoes in the Madonna dell'Arena; Mantegna's in the Eremitani; Donatello's altar in the church of Padua's own sweet Saint Anthony; and so forth; and then in the afternoon take the tram for Fusina.

There was the history of Padua's greatness perpetuated in marble charming personages, one and all, if you could believe their statues, and it would have seemed treacherous not to.

As it would be best to wait until morning for looking at the pictures, they at once set forth and walked along the narrow streets lined with arcades, and through grassy Il Prato, with its fourscore and more statues of Padua's famous men ranged between the trees.

We scarcely did more than catch a glimpse of that ugly pile St Antonio, where the bones of Padua's patron saint repose the good St. Anthony. In the Hermitage Church are the tombs of the Carrara family; and in the old Sacristry there is a very beautiful picture of St. John the Baptist, by Guido; also some frescoes and other paintings, but very much spoiled by the damp.

Dryden, in his translation of Virgil, says "Antenor founded Padua's happy seat, And gave his Trojans a secure retreat; There fixed his arms, and there renewed their name, And there in quiet rules; and crown'd with fame." "In 452 Padua suffered severely from the invasion of Attila; and in 601 was burnt by Agilulf, King of the Longobards.