We visited Padova on a bitterly cold late autumn Sunday morning with our friends from La Fenice Blu who arranged everything for us from start to finish.

After all these years of passing through Padova on our way to the beach and saying: ‘I really want to see the Scrovegni Chapel. We’ll go there this winter when there’s nothing much to do’ . Thanks to my Fenice friends, I finally made it!

The Scrovegni Chapel

So, the chapel is world-famous for the frescos of Giotto, painted between 1303 and 1305.

The ceiling is that rich blue which is so relaxing and satisfying to look at, studded with golden stars.

To preserve the delicate frescos of the chapel, each visit follows a strict protocol. you enter a room with a limited number of visitors to watch a 15-minute video about the history of the chapel and a description of the frescos.

At the same time, the air around you is purified to create a microclimate similar to the one in the chapel.

After this, you have about ten minutes inside the chapel itself to take everything in and focus on the frescos before it is time to leave and the next group comes in.

The Baptistry

Also this visit begins with an audio visual presentation of what you’re going to see and what you might find more difficult to make out as the images are high up in the ceiling of the Baptistry.

The Baptistry is incredibly detailed but you have plenty of time to study what you are seeing. This was probably my favourite visit of the day.

The Eremitani Museum

The University of Padova

Dates from 1222. Such an important university. Some groundbreaking highlights to think about:

The brilliant scientist Galileo Galileo taught here in the 1500’s and developed the scientific method still in use today: observe, create a hypothesis and experiment.

The first woman in the world to become a PhD graduate did so from this university in 1678. Her name was Elena Cornaro Piscopia. Wow, what an achievement!!

At the market

These symbols carved in stone are not decorative. They date back to medieval times and served to define the measurements of everyday goods like flour, grain, bricks and cloth and make sure that the customer was getting the right quantity of each product.

And anyone who tried to cheat the system would be tied up here in this square called Canton delle Busie (Corner of Lies) and their belongings would be sold at auction.

Bar Brutal, Padova city centre

At this point, our cultural visit is over and it’s time to digest everything that we’ve seen. We’ve been observing, analysing, translating and commenting. It’s an absolutely reawarding but demanding activity.

Now we can stop, try some local cichetti (tapas) which are all so equally rich and inviting that it’s impossible to choose any in particular- Just give me three of those, please!