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Published: November 4th 2009
So last week we got a new glimpse of Italy in the small, university town of Padova, which is only about a 30 minute train ride from Venice. The visit was a day trip with our class organized by our professors, so we weren’t sure how fun it would be. We headed out early, oblivious to the fact that we were going to have one of the best days in Italy so far! Needless to say, we absolutely loved Padova! For one, it was completely gorgeous- an urban, university setting weaved together with ancient ruins and beautiful gardens. We started the day with some beautiful cathedrals and churches with some great Titian frescos, then went and saw the Basicalla of St. Anthony, only one of my new favorite churches! Catholics pilgrimage to this site where St. Anthony, the saint of lost items and travelers among others, is buried. Anthony was an excellent speaker and his body is incorruptible, which means parts of him do not decompose. His vocal cords and tongue are still perfectly in tact and on display, and his tomb is in the middle of the basicalla. It was such a powerful place and although I’m not Catholic, I
just had this connection to the saint who was so gifted in speech and rhetoric (not unusual for a Communication major I suppose!) I even got a rosary blessed by one of the priests- it was such an amazing experience!
After lunch we saw the Scrovegni Chapel (aka the Arena Chapel) with Giotto’s famous frescos. It was beyond words- it was so cool to see something we’ve studied so much in art history brought to life before our eyes! Definitely one of my favorite “works” I’ve seen in Europe! The day ended with a tour of the University of Padova, one of the oldest universities in the world. Galileo was a professor here and we toured the Anatomy Theater where they would perform dissections in front of hundreds of students. It is this huge wooded structure built like a coliseum with tons of spots of students to stand and watch the dissections. Unfortunately we weren’t allowed to take pictures
So, not a super exciting entry, but Padova was pretty amazing (although it was technically class time!) and I had to post a quick summary and some pics!
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Mom
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Padova is beautiful!
Wow! Padova is so beautiful!!! It looks like a city right out of a movie. How exciting to see works of art that you have studied in so many classes! Tell Elyse that I think she looks like a model in the pix with Shannon and Lizzie. That looks like a model's pose if I ever saw one! Love, Mom