ARQUA PETRARCA  , a

village of Venetia, Italy, in the province of Padua, 3 M. to the S.W. of Battaglia . Pop . (1901) 1573 . It is chiefly famous as the place where Petrarch lived his last few years and died in 1374 . His house still exists, and his tomb, a sarcophagus supported by four short columns of red marble, stands in front of the church . Near Arqua., on the banks of the small Lago della Costa, is the site of a prehistoric lake village, excavations in which have produced interesting results . See A . Moschetti and F . Cordenone in Bollettino del Museo Civico di Padova, iv . (1901), 102 seq .