Ricordo di Padova

Wow everyone, it's been a long time since the last post but I just haven't been at my computer recently. My mom and sister are both in Italy right now (Florence today) and so between catching up with them and some of the travel I've been doing, there hasn't been much time for blogging. And there's this other thing called school, yeah.

Anyway, we'll get the boring stuff out of the way first. I actually had a sizeable amount of homework over the weekend, so that would've made me crazy in the States (but it's easy to stay calm over here, somehow). I had to read a play by Christopher Marlowe for my lit class, give an architectural report, write a 5-page paper on Islamic Architecture and prepare a powerpoint for the same subject. And I had a little bit of Italian homework too, but that wasn't that hard. Other mundane news... well, I heard from the Italian state on the progress of my permesso di soggiorno, that is, my residency permit. The word is that I have an appointment on 22 September at the police station in Marghera. So, basically, I don't have to worry about it. I am so happy to hear this because a couple of my friends were missing documents and they have to go to the police station next week. Yuck.

Now for the good stuff. I spent pretty much all of Friday in Padova (it's called "Padua" in English but I like the sound and spelling of the Italian much better). The train ride from Venice is about 30 or 35 minutes, so not bad at all. This was my first train ride on the Italian railroad, which I thought wasn't significantly worse than Amtrak but this girl Stella, who lives near Venice and commutes to Ca' Foscari University (and VIU) says that it's the worst train system in the western world. Whatever, I got there at about 10:45, traveling with my German friends Sara and Judith (who actually just happened to be on the same train as me).

Padova is small and charming. There are really no tourists and not many English-speakers, just because it's not necessary from a practical standpoint. The shopping in Padova is a pretty big deal, apparently. Also, the city is extremely old - probably not as old as Venice, but it has a medieval wall and moats (while not entirely intact, you can still see them). There's a beautiful public garden, and an open-air market where you can buy fruits, vegetables and fish that stare at you. Sara, Judith and I went to look at the Palazzo della Ragione, which used to be the judicial and also commercial center of Padova (that's where the market is today). The roof has a really funny shape, and there are really old frescoes inside on the walls. The architecture is distantly reminiscent of the Palazzo Ducale in Venice.

After lunch (and we sat outside, the weather was bellissimo) we went to the Basilica del Santo, also called Sant'Antonio. This large church is dedicated to Saint Anthony, the patron saint of Padova. Saint Anthony is one of my faves, so I was really excited. Being with Judith and Sara was really helpful because they're both art history majors, so they explained a lot of the styles and elements of the architecture inside to me. It was like having two guides, really. The decoration inside wasn't as ornate as San Marco (and definitely not San Pietro) but it was still incredible and really made an impression on me. It was just fresco after fresco. Parts of the roof had been destroyed during World War II, so not all the frescoes were actually there; there were bare spots. There were also a lot of religious relics there in this special section behind the sanctuary (but we didn't see them because it wasn't visiting hours). One of the most important parts of the sanctuary is the tombo del santo, the Tomb of Saint Anthony. There are crates where people leave cards, charms, candles and other things in the memory of Saint Anthony, and a bulletin board where people leave pictures of their family members. And apparently the remains of Saint Anthony are inside the sarcophagus, too. So according to the tradition I won't ever lose anything again. I wonder if the entire Panthers team came to the Basilica del Santo...

At 3, I met up with the rest of the VIU students who were going to Padova. We walked from the train station to the Palazzo della Ragione, where our architecture professor gave us some special insight on the structure and its purposes. Here's a picture of the outside of the palazzo.

What was really the best part of Padova (besides what I've already mentioned) was the Cappella degli Scrovegni, the Scrovegni Chapel. As the story goes, the Scrovegni family was very rich and influential in the early 15th century. But as he neared death, the head of the family worried about his less-than-moral usury practices and commissioned Giotto to paint the inside of a chapel he was building. The result is pure renaissance beauty. To go into the Cappella degli Scrovegni, you must make an appointment. It doesn't open until 3:00.

To go into the chapel, we had to check our bags at the front (this included a green sidebag that I brought that so many friends and family have called a "man-purse"). So we went into this room to watch a video on the construction and artistic design of the chapel (originally in Italian, with English subtitles and German supertitles). While we watched, a superpowered air conditioner cooled us off so we wouldn't damage the frescoes with our body heat. Actually, this is a problem, and for that reason there are no more than 25 people allowed at a time inside the chapel.

When we finally got inside, I just couldn't believe it. It is definitely the most beautiful thing I've seen in Italy that I've never seen before (other things include the Pieta, the views from Cefalu and the town of Taormina). But I really think that this Cappella degli Scrovegni is one of the most beautiful and moving things I've ever seen. Sacrilegiously, I'm providing a link to a picture of the chapel. It has scenes from the life of Mary and Christ. The emotion is just incredible, especially in the panel of the lamentation and when Peter's feet are washed by Jesus. The ceiling of the chapel was painted blue with stars. It was really incredible, I just can't express it. Unfortunately, we were allowed inside for only 15 minutes, which seemed like only 2. It was definitely one of the highlights of my trip.

I needed to leave Padova subito (immediately) so I left for the train station with my new friends Stella and Helena, Italian students at Ca' Foscari. On the train, I got to practice my Italian with Francesca, another Ca' Foscari student. Most of the Italian students at VIU actually study Chinese - Francesca, for example, has studied Chinese for a while and has been to China to practice. All the students I've mentioned are Venetian and speak with the Venetian dialect - for example, they say "'ndemo" in place of "andiamo."

So once I got back to Venice, I connected with my mom and sister, who just arrived in Italy that day. They were with our friend Frauke from Frankfurt, Germany. I'll tell more about this later!
Ciao per ora,
Andrew