Padua - Day 1

We started today by going to Mass at the Basilica of St Anthony. Padua, or more importantly, the Basilica was always going to be the end point of our pilgrimage nomatter how we arrived there, so in a sense today was the end of our pilgrimage. We weren't able to walk the whole way but it still felt very special.

Six years ago when we were in Portugal we visited St Anthony’s Church which was built over his family home where he was born in Lisbon, and now we've visited his final resting place here in Padua. 

Being Sunday, nine Masses were said at the Basilica today - there are eight on a week day. We went to the 10 am Mass and the Basilica was full. We were able to judge by the numbers leaving at the end of the 9 am Mass and by those who were arriving for Mass at 11 am, that many thousands of people go to Mass at the Basilica each week. 

As well as all the Mass goers great numbers of people queued to visit the tomb of St Anthony - this was happening throughout Mass and continued on through the day. 

A little information about the Basilica:

The actual Basilica of Saint Anthony at Padua is largely the result of three different reconstructions, which took place over a period of about 70 years: 1238-1310. In St. Anthony’s time there was the little church Santa Maria Mater Domini, which was then integrated into the Basilica and is now the Chapel of the Black Madonna. Next to this, in 1229, the Friary sprang up, which was probably founded by St. Anthony himself. St. Anthony died in 1231 in Arcella, in the north of the city where a Clarisse monastery then stood, his body – according his own wishes – was transported and buried in the little church Santa Maria Mater Domini. The construction of the first nucleus of the Basilica, a Franciscan church with only a single nave and a short transept, began in 1238; two lateral naves were added and it was eventually transformed into the amazing structure that we admire today.

Source: The Basilica of St Anthony website. 

We returned to the Basilica when we knew there was a break between Masses.

The main altar. 

Behind the main altar are nine chapels. 

Walking around the back of the main altar.

St Anthony 

One of the side chapels.

Adjoining the Basilica is the Franciscan Friary which includes five enclosed cloisters. Here are a few photos taken in a couple of them:

Looking up to the Basilica from one of the cloisters. 

Leaving the Basilica, we decided that we would wander into the centre of the town area of Padua as we didn't see any of it yesterday. Two things stood out: there is a lot of graffiti and many of the streets are littered. Also, we couldn't see any shopping streets, just shops in among other types of buildings. 

For instance a sports shoe shop is right next to the church in the (poor) photo below.

By then we were looking for somewhere to have lunch. There are many cafés serving pizza and pasta meals but the meals all looked mass produced and not appetising. 

Finally we found one that we thought looked promising, and it was very good. 

We had lunch at the restaurant in the centre of this photo. 

We enjoyed our meals. Jeff had strips of grilled beef with rocket, small tomatoes and slices of a special Italian cheese. I had a grilled chicken breast with rosemary sautéed zucchini and potatoes. 

When we have a reasonable lunch as we had today we can have a more picnic style dinner.

The buildings across the street from where we were sitting in front of the restaurant. 

The small balconies with plantings at the very top of the buildings show that every part of them is lived in. 

We then visited the Basilica Cattedrale di Santa Maria Assunta, the Cathedral of the Assumption of Mary (simply referred to as the Duomo) a massive roomy cathedral. 

It is the third church built on that site, the first was built in 313. Construction of the present cathedral started in 1551 and wasn't completed until 1754. 

The very simple facade of the Duomo. 

The main altar. 

One of the side altars. 

Some modern pieces at the base of the main altar:

Some photos taken on our walk back to our accommodation (a shoebox of a room in a hotel). 

Many buildings have graffiti. 

We have found it very easy to adopt the Italian habit of having a riposo - an afternoon break to escape the heat and relax. One of us also manages to have a good nap. 

Just as we did yesterday, we had an early evening walk to the supermarket a few blocks from where we're staying, this time walking around the oval green of Prato della Valle and it's surrounding moat-like waterway rather than across them as we did last night. 

What we found really different is that there's a supermarket open on a Sunday, a first in all the time we've been in Europe. 

Padua is a city and comune in Veneto, northern Italy, and the capital of the province of Padua. The city lies on the banks of the river Bacchiglione, 40 km west of Venice and 29 km southeast of Vicenza, and has a population of 207,694 as of 2025. It is also the economic and communications hub of the area.

Source: Wikipedia