From Venice, we took a bus to Padua this morning - about a half hour ride.
When we got to the bus station, we took a taxi to Capella della Scrovegni, or the private chapel built by the Scrovegni family.
Scrovegni Chapel
It is Padua's most famous sight, and houses a remarkable cycle of 38 frescoes completed in 1305 by Giotto, who is generally considered the first in a line of great artists of the Italian Renaissance.It was commissioned by a wealthy banker as a private chapel once attached to his family's palazzo, with the goal of gaining favor from God and saving grace from hell for his and his father's evidently unscrupulous money-lending. Ironically, that is the source of the cash to build this gorgeous chapel!!! In fact, his father Reginaldo degli Scrovegni is the userer encountered by Dante in the Seventh Circle of Hell!!!!!
The fresco cycle details the life of the Virgin Mary and the life of Christ, and has been acknowledged by many to be one of the most important fresco cycles in the world.
Finished in 1305, it's considered by many to be the first piece of modern art -- a sign that Europe was breaking out of the Middle Ages. Giotto placed real people in real scenes, expressing real human emotions.
The chapel is fairly little, but ohhhhh, the inside takes your breath away....
Entrance to the chapel is an elaborate ordeal, as it involves spending 15 minutes prior to entrance in a climate-controlled, airlocked vault, used to stabilize the temperature between the outside world and the inside of the chapel. This is to improve preservation. To protect the paintings from excess humidity, only 25 people are allowed inside the chapel at a time. I had to get tickets on line about two months in advance.
St. Anthony is one of the most beloved of saints, and he was proclaimed a Doctor of the Church in 1946. He is especially invoked for the recovery of things lost ("Saint Anthony, Saint Anthony, please come around. Something is lost that can't be found."). It ALWAYS works for me!!!!! Although sometimes, when I am feeling that St. Tony is in a playful mood, I quote my friend Carolyn's silly version: "St. Anthony, St. Anthony, let down your hair." That usually works, too.
St. Anthony died in 1231, and construction of the Basilica probably began seven years later. (It took more than 70 years to complete.) He was buried in a small 12th century church called Santa Maria Mater Domini, where he founded a convent in 1229.
When the second phase of construction of the Basilica was completed in 1263, Franciscans gathered together in Padua to transfer the tomb of the Saint from the little church (which had been incorporated into the new church) to the center of the Basilica under the present cone-shaped cupola.
On that occasion, the coffin containing the Saint’s remains was opened for the first time, above all to remove some relics to offer for the devotion of the faithful in other churches. It was a great surprise for the priests to see St. Anthony's tongue incorrupt. It was then that St. Bonaventure, with his heart full of admiration, prayed aloud:
O blessed tongue, you have always praised the Lord and led others to praise him! Now we can clearly see how great indeed have been your merits before God.
It was then decided to separately conserve the Saint’s tongue, jaw, left forearm, and a few other minor relics. (They are now to be found in the orante baroque Treasury Chapel, which was begun in 1691, and this is St. Anthony's real live (!) tongue in this gold and glass case:)
The rest of his body was wrapped up, and placed in a smaller box which, in turn was placed in a larger box.
In January 1981, on the occasion of the 750th anniversary of the death of Saint Anthony, and with the intention of specifying the exact state of his mortal remains, his tomb was opened for the second time in history for the "religious pontifical commission" and a "scientific/technical commission".
Inside was found a large pinewood box, wrapped in four linen sheets and two highly embroidered drapes; and containing a second smaller box with two compartments. It had three finely embroidered bundles inside wrapped in crimson red silk and precious appliqué trim.
Each bundle was labelled with a parchment indicating the contents, which were the entire skeleton, apart from the jaw, left forearm and other minor parts; other remains, mostly reduced to dust; and a tunic, made from ash-coloured wool.
Outside the large box within the altar which housed it, there was a plaque with the date of the Saint’s death, his canonisation, and of the transfer of his mortal remains from the little church of Santa Maria Mater Domini to the new Basilica (8 April 1263).
The Saint’s skeleton was reconstructed and placed on a small cushion in a crystal case, within which were placed two glass caskets containing the other remains. The crystal case was then locked away in an oak casket and placed back into the tomb.
I have to say, St. Anthony has good PR people, because his tomb is WELL MARKED (virtually with neon signs and arrows!!!) in the church, unlike St. Mark in Venice, who is hidden in the back of the church.
hotel website
The Villa Pasini Canera di Salasco is one of the beautiful Palladian-style villas that enrich the Veneto countryside, and is only a few kilometers from the town of Vicenza.
The villa was built in 1770 as the country residence for the Franceschini family, silk manufacturers from Vicenza. The architect, Ottavio Bertotti-Scamozzi (1719–90), was a doyen of the
The owners rent out three deluxe suites in a courtyard on the property of the villa, with access to a beautiful park where you can walk among the vineyards and enjoy the views of the surrounding Berici hills. Wine and olive oil are produced from the property's vineyards and olive trees.
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