Cultural Tours and Excursions in Italy

“Faire Padua, nurserie of Arts.” So Lucentio, in Shakespeare’s Taming of the Shrew, accurately describes one of Italy’s most interesting and historic cities. As the Roman colony of Patavium, the city flourished and, despite suffering numerous barbarian invasions with the fall of the Roman Empire, it rose again to prosperity in the early medieval period. In 1164, Padova declared itself an independent republic which helped usher in a Golden Age in the 13th and 14th centuries, when the town attracted many first rate artists. One of Europe’s oldest universities was founded in 1222, a magnet for many distinguished men, including Dante, Petrarch, and Galileo. But the town’s most celebrated “citizen” is surely the “wonder-worker” and most beloved of all Christian saints, Saint Anthony of Padova, whose tomb is in the city’s 13th century basilica built in his honor. The most well known monument in Padova, however, is arguably the medieval Cappella degli Scrovegni, whose frescoes are the masterpiece of Giotto and widely considered to be one of the greatest achievements of Italian painting.

We begin with a guided tour of the Old Town, home of the city’s celebrated 14th century town hall, Il Salone, situated between the Piazza delle Erbe and the Piazza della Frutta, two bustling squares that formed the heart of medieval Padova. We continue with a private tour of the university, where we see, among other things, the cattedra (pulpit) from which Galileo lectured physics, as well as the medical school’s famous Anatomical Theatre, Europe’s oldest. In addition to an extensive tour of the Basilica of Saint Anthony, which contains magnificent art from the medieval and Renaissance periods, including important bronze statues and reliefs of the sculptor Donatello, we also visit the Prato della Valle, the largest piazza in Italy; the Battistero del Cattedrale, the interior of which is completely covered by frescoes of the medieval painter Menabuoi, his best work; the Basilica di Santa Giustina, which houses both a masterpiece of the Venetian artist Paolo Veronese as well as the relics of several important saints, including those of the apostle St. Matthias and the evangelist St. Luke; and the Chiesa degli Eremitani, a 13th century church which boasts Renaissance frescoes of Mantegna.

We conclude with a private tour of the spectacular Cappella degli Scrovegni and the recently restored Giotto frescoes. A tour of one of the celebrated villas along the Brenta Canal, such as the “Malcontenta,” designed by the most famous Renaissance architect, Palladio, or the stately Villa Pisani, with its celebrated Tiepolo frescoes, is also normally included. Since reservations for the Cappella degli Scrovegni must be made far in advance, participation on this tour is limited to the first 25 students. The excursion includes transportation, a guided tour of the city, churches, and monuments, as well as all entrance fees.

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