Loading...OK, so I’m going to get really pretentious for a minute. Just like Romeo and Juliet feels really appropriate in Verona, Taming of the Shrew feels really appropriate in Padova. The city is noisy, youthful, raunchy and a bit raw. Within a few minutes of our arrival, Lauren was pulling her bag away from aspiring thieves. Motor scooters roar around corners in 800 year old piazzas, and the cobblestones were littered with broken eggs- no doubt the byproduct of collegiate shenanigans. In the crowded market stalls that inhabit the old Palace of Reason, chickens hang upside-down and headless (just like old times, for me!) and ladies in fur coats jostle with students for position at the counters of stores selling a dizzying array of cheese, bread, and meat. This was the first place we went to that seemed to exist completely independently of tourism- which was exciting on one hand, and a bit foreign and overwhelming on the other. We purchased the “Padova Card” – which gave us admission into a number of sites as well as unlimited access to public transportation. It did not, however, include any type of map- so we made due with the glorified placemat-map which we picked up at our first stop- the Ermetani Museum, which contains the Scrovegni Chapel.
The Scrovegni Chapel is entirely decorated in Giotto’s frescos – a remarkable artistic accomplishment, but one that left me cold. Perhaps it was the incredibly byzantine process (ironic for Renaissance art) that we had to go through to get into the Chapel. Tickets had to be picked up an hour in advance. Then, we had to get to the chapel 15 minutes before our official visit time so that we could sit in a climate controlled room, before being allowed to enter the chapel, in a small group, for 15 minutes. There was, of course, no clear signage to explain any of this, and the helpful woman at the museum refused to accept that we didn’t speak Italian, choosing instead to rattle off a complicated series of instructions. When we stared at her mutely, she tried to explain her instructions by saying a whole bunch more stuff we didn’t understand.
The sterile environment of the Scrovegni Chapel was in stark contrast to the rest of the city. Between the tram stop and our hotel were three piazzas- Piazza Signori, Piazza della Frutta and Piazza delle Erbe as well as the old University- the Palazzo del Bo. Each piazza has its own beautiful facades and architectural details- visible through the crowds of people and market stalls. Aside from the Univeristy and the Scrovegni Chapel, Padova is known for the Gran Caffe Pedrocchi. The Caffe, opened in 1831 is a hodgepodge of architectural and decorating styles- complete with an Egyptian Room, Moorish Room, Greek Room and others. Unfortunately, the lower floor, where you actually drink overpriced coffee (in my case slathered in whipped cream and spiked with Grappa) is not as interesting and ornate as the upper floor, where all the funky rooms are. While you can go to the upper rooms, it’s a lot less cool to walk through the absurdly decorated spaces than it would be to actually hang out in them drinking funky coffee concoctions. Still, admission to the upstairs was included on our Padova Card, so we weren’t going to miss it.
We didn’t eat out in Padova, opting instead for bread, cheese and salami purchased at the markets earlier in the day, the wine on sale at the supermarket (our first Italian supermarket!) on plates decorated with smiling teddy bears purchased at “Tutti 99 Cents”. As we rode off on the tram the next morning, with it’s seats decorated to match the starry sky of the Scrovegni Chapel, we may not have been filled with the sort of romantic notions engendered by Verona, but there was a kind of satisfaction in having successfully done what we set out to do in the rugged little city, perhaps bending it just a little bit to our will.
The best way to view the pictures (in my opinion) is to click on the first one which opens a larger view, then click Next in that new window. This way you can also read the captions.
