Picture Giotto in 1303, perched on his scaffolding, revolutionizing Western painting in a pink brick chapel. Seven centuries later, his frescoes still draw the whole world to Padua, 40 km west of Venice. River boats reach the city via the Piovego canal, heir to eight centuries of navigation between the Brenta and the lagoon, and moor at the gates of the historic centre. The city of St. Anthony and Galileo then reveals itself: academic, mercantile, devout and food-loving all at once.

The Scrovegni Chapel, the pinnacle of painting

The flagship visit requires a reservation, and it is worth it. In the Scrovegni Chapel, Giotto painted between 1303 and 1305 a complete cycle on the life of the Virgin and of Christ, crowned by a Last Judgment. Glances, gestures, emotions: for the first time, painted figures seemed alive. Entry is in groups, after a climate-controlled airlock of about fifteen minutes that protects the frescoes from humidity; the strictly timed visit inside goes by in the blink of an eye. The neighbouring civic museums complete the visit.

Palazzo della Ragione and the market squares

In the heart of the city, Piazza delle Erbe and Piazza della Frutta frame the astonishing Palazzo della Ragione, a former medieval courthouse whose upper hall, among the largest in Europe, shelters beneath an upturned wooden hull. On the ground floor, cheese, cold cut and bread merchants carry on seven centuries of trade beneath the arcades. Nearby, Piazza dei Signori lines up its façades beneath the astronomical clock of the Torre dell'Orologio, which displays the hours, the phases of the moon and the signs of the zodiac. It is the best place to feel the city's heartbeat, espresso in hand, among the stalls.

The university and the café without doors

Padua is home to one of the oldest universities in the world, founded in 1222, where Galileo taught. Its historic seat, the Palazzo del Bo, can be visited: there you can admire the 1595 anatomical theatre, the oldest preserved, a dizzying wooden funnel where students watched dissections. Opposite, Caffè Pedrocchi, a neoclassical institution opened in 1831 and long nicknamed "the café without doors" because it never closed, still serves its famous mint coffee in rooms of green, white and red.

The Basilica del Santo and Donatello

To the south, the Byzantine domes of the Basilica of St. Anthony mark one of the great sanctuaries of Christendom, the destination of millions of pilgrims every year. The interior blends Gothic, Donatello bronzes around the high altar and a chapel of relics. On the forecourt stands the Gattamelata, an equestrian statue of the condottiere cast by Donatello around 1453, the first of its kind since antiquity. Nearby, Prato della Valle spreads over 90,000 m²: an elliptical island surrounded by a canal and 78 statues, among the largest squares in Europe.

The botanical garden, the world's oldest

Close by, the botanical garden founded in 1545 for the study of medicinal plants is a UNESCO World Heritage Site: it is the oldest university garden in the world still in its original location. A palm tree planted in 1585, known as "Goethe's palm," still grows there under its greenhouse. The Garden of Biodiversity, a contemporary greenhouse opened in 2014, extends the walk from the tropics to the deserts.

Between visits, a spritz is a must — the drink was born in the region — accompanied by cicchetti on a terrace on one of the squares. Then comes the time to return to the boat along the Piovego, your head full of frescoes, domes and student voices. Padua does not live in Venice's shadow; it has led its own existence since antiquity, and a few hours are enough to make you want to stay longer.