Online Encyclopedia

Search over 40,000 articles from the original, classic Encyclopedia Britannica, 11th Edition.

PADUA (Lat. Patavium ; Ital. Padova)

Online Encyclopedia
Originally appearing in Volume V20, Page 445 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
Spread the word: del.icio.us del.icio.us it!

See also:

PADUA (See also:Lat. See also:Patavium ; Ital. Padova)  , a See also:city of See also:northern See also:Italy, on the See also:river Bacchiglione, 25 M . W. of See also:Venice and 18 m . S.E. of See also:Vicenza, with a See also:population of 82,283 . The city is picturesque, with arcaded streets, and many See also:bridges See also:crossing the various branches of the Bacchiglione, which once surrounded the See also:ancient walls . The Palazzo della Ragione, with its See also:great See also:hall on the upper See also:floor, is reputed to have the largest roof unsupported by columns in See also:Europe; the hall is nearly rectangular, its length 2672 ft., its breadth 8g ft., and its height 78 ft.; the walls are covered with symbolical paintings in See also:fresco; the See also:building stands upon See also:arches, and the upper See also:storey is surrounded by an open loggia, not unlike that which surrounds the See also:basilica of Vicenza; the Palazzo was begun in 1172 and finished in 1219; in and bloody See also:siege was stormed and burned by him . The city did 1306 Fra Giovanni, an Augustinian See also:friar, covered the whole with not easily recover from this See also:blow, and See also:Padua was still weak when one roof; originally there were three See also:roofs, spanning the three the See also:Franks succeeded the See also:Lombards as masters of See also:north Italy. See also:chambers into which the hall was at first divided; the See also:internal I (2) At the See also:Diet of See also:Aix-la-Chapelle (828) the duchy and See also:march of See also:partition walls remained till the See also:fire of 1420, when the Venetian See also:Friuli, in which Padua See also:lay, was divided into four counties, one architects who undertook the restoration removed them, throw- of which took its See also:title from that city . (3) During the See also:period See also:ing all three compartments into one and forming the See also:present of episcopal supremacy Padua does not appear to have been great hall . In the Piazza dei Signori is the beautiful loggia either very important or very active . The See also:general tendency of called the Gran Guardia, begun in 1493 and finished in 1526, ~ its policy throughout the See also:war of investitures was Imperial and and See also:close by is the Palazzo del Capitanio, the See also:residence of the not See also:Roman; and its bishops were, for the most See also:part, Germans . Venetian See also:governors, with its great See also:door, the See also:work of Falconetto (4) But under the See also:surface two important movements were taking of See also:Verona, 1532 . The most famous of the Paduan churches See also:place . At the beginning of the 11th See also:century the citizens estab- is the basilica dedicated to See also:Saint See also:Anthony, commonly called I1 Santo; the bones of the saint See also:rest in a See also:chapel richly ornamented with carved See also:marbles, the work of various artists, among them of See also:Sansovino and Falconetto; the basilica was begun about the See also:year 1230 and completed in the following century; tradition says that the buildink was designed by Niccola See also:Pisano; it is covered by seven cupolas, two of them pyramidal .

On the piazza in front of the See also:

church is See also:Donatello's magnificent equestrian statue of Erasmo da See also:Narni, the Venetian general (1438-1441) . The Eremitani is an Augustinian church of the 13th century, distinguished as containing the tombs of Jacopo (1324) and Ubertino (1345) da See also:Carrara, lords of Padua, and for the chapel of SS See also:James and See also:Christopher, illustrated by See also:Mantegna's frescoes . Close by the Eremitani is the small church of the Annunziata, known as the Madonna dell' See also:Arena, whose inner walls are entirely covered with paintings by See also:Giotto . Padua has See also:long been famous for its university, founded by See also:Frederick II. in 1238 . Under the See also:rule of Venice the university was governed by a See also:board of three See also:patricians, called the Riformatori dello Studio di Padova . The See also:list of professors and alumni is long and illustrious, containing, among others, the names of See also:Bembo, Sperone Speroni, Veselius, Acquapendente, Galileo, Pomponazzi, See also:Pole, See also:Scaliger, See also:Tasso and Sobieski . The place of Padua in the See also:history of See also:art is nearly as important as its place in the history of learning . The presence of the university attracted many distinguished artists, as Giotto, Lippo See also:Lippi and Donatello; and for native art there was the school of Squarcione (1394-1474), whence issued the great Mantegna (1431-1506) . The See also:industry of Padua has greatly See also:developed in See also:modern times . See also:Corn and saw See also:mills, distilleries, chemical factories, breweries, See also:candle-See also:works, See also:ink-works, foundries, agricultural See also:machine and automobile work§, have been established and are flourishing . The See also:trade of the See also:district has grown to such an extent that Padua has become the central See also:market for the whole of See also:Venetia . Padua claims to be the See also:oldest city in north Italy; the inhabitants pretend to a fabulous descent from the Trojan See also:Antenor, whose See also:relics they recognized in a large See also:stone See also:sarcophagus exhumed in the year 1274 .

Their real origin is involved in that obscurity which conceals the ethnography of the earliest settlers in the Venetian See also:

plain . Padua See also:early became a populous and thriving city, thanks to its excellent breed of horses and the See also:wool of its See also:sheep . Its men fought for the See also:Romans at See also:Cannae, and the city became so powerful that it was reported able to raise two See also:hundred thousand fighting men . See also:Abano in the neighbourhood was made illustrious by the See also:birth of See also:Livy, and Padua was the native place of See also:Valerius See also:Flaccus, Asconius Pedianus and Thrasea Paetus . Padua, in See also:common with north-eastern Italy, suffered severely from the invasion of the See also:Huns under See also:Attila (452) . It then passed under the See also:Gothic See also:kings See also:Odoacer and See also:Theodoric, but made submission to the Greeks in 540 . The city was seized again by the Goths under See also:Totila, and again restored to the Eastern See also:Empire by See also:Narses in 568 . Following the course of events common to most cities of north-eastern Italy, the history of Padua falls under eight heads: (I) the Lombard rule, (2) the Frankish rule, (3) the period of the bishops, (4) the emergence of the See also:commune, (5) the period of the despots, (6) the period of Venetian supremacy, (7) the period of See also:Austrian supremacy, and finally (8) the period of See also:united Italy . (I) Under the Lombards the city of Padua See also:rose in revolt (6ot) against Agilulph, the Lombard See also:king, and after suffering a longlished a constitution, composed of a general See also:council or legislative See also:assembly and a credenza or executive; and during the next century they were engaged in See also:wars with Venice and Vicenza for the right of See also:water-way on the Bacchiglione and the Brenta-so that, on the one See also:hand, the city See also:grew in See also:power and self-reliance, while, on the other, the great families of Camposampiero, D'See also:Este and Da Romano began to emerge and to See also:divide the Paduan district between them . The citizens, in See also:order to protect their liberties, were obliged to elect a See also:podesta, and their choice See also:fell first on one of the D'Este See also:family (c . 1175) . The temporary success of the Lombard See also:league helped to strengthen the towns; but their ineradicable See also:jealousy of one another soon reduced them to weakness again, so that in 1236 Frederick II. found little difficulty in establishing his See also:vicar Ezzelino da Romano in Padua and the neighbouring cities, where he practised frightful cruelties on the inhabitants .

Phoenix-squares

When Ezzelino met his See also:

death, in 1259, Padua enjoyed a brief period of rest and prosperity: the university flourished; the basilica of the saint was begun; the Paduans became masters of Vicenza . But this advance brought them into dangerous proximity to Can Grande della Scala, See also:lord of Verona, to whom they had to yield in 1311 . (5) As a See also:reward for freeing the city from the Scalas, Jacopo da Carrara was elected lord of Padua in 1318 . From that date till 1405, with the exception of two years (1388-1390) when Gian Galeazzo See also:Visconti held the See also:town, nine members of the Carrara family succeeded one another as lords of the city . It was a long period of restlessness, for the Carraresi were constantly at war; they were finally extinguished between the growing power of the Visconti and of Venice . (6) Padua passed under Venetian rule in 1405, and so remained, with a brief See also:interval during the wars of the League of Cambray, till the fall of the See also:republic in 1797 . The city was governed by two Venetian nobles, a podesta for See also:civil and a See also:captain for military affairs; each of these was elected for sixteen months . Under these governors the great and small See also:councils continued to See also:discharge municipal business and to administer the Paduan See also:law, contained in the statutes of 1276 and 1362 . The See also:treasury was ,managed by two chamberlains; and every five years the Paduans sent one of their nobles to reside as See also:nuncio in Venice, and to See also:watch the interests of his native town . (7 and 8) After the fall of the Venetian republic the history of Padua follows the history of Venice during the periods of See also:French and Austrian supremacy . In 1866 the See also:battle of See also:Koniggratz gave Italy the opportunity to shake off the last of the Austrian yoke, when Venetia, and with Venetia Padua, became part of the united See also:Italian See also:kingdom . See " Chronicon patavinum," in L .

A . See also:

Muratori'sAntiquitates italicae medii aevi, vol. iv . (See also:Milan, 1938) ; " Rolandinc "and " See also:Monaco padovano " (Muratori's Annali d' Italia, vol. viii., Venice, 1790; Cortusiorum historia," ibid. vol . )(ii . ; Gattari, " Istoria padovana," ibid. vol. xvii.; Vergerius, " Vitae carrariensium principum," ibid. vol. xvi.) ; G . Verci, Storia della See also:Marca Trevigiana (Venice, 1786) ; Abate G . Gennari, Annali di Padova (Padua) ; G . See also:Cittadella, Storia della dominazione carrarese (Padua, 1842) ; P . Litta, Famiglie celebri, s.v . " Carraresi " (1825–1833) ; C.See also:Cantu, Illustrazione grande l See also:Lombardo-Veneto (Milan, 1857) ; B . Gonzati, La Basilica di Sant' See also:Antonio di Padova (Padua, 1853) . (H .

F .

End of Article: PADUA (Lat. Patavium ; Ital. Padova)
[back]
PADSTOW
[next]
PADUCAH

Additional information and Comments

There are no comments yet for this article.
» Add information or comments to this article.
Please link directly to this article:
Highlight the code below, right click and select "copy." Paste it into a website, email, or other HTML document.