Padova Treasures

We slept late Wednesday, 4/13/2011, because Venice wore us out. Sensory overload.
We did get up and out for lunch on the piazza in the shadow of  the Palazzo della Ragione. Love eating outside on the piazza. Gary had the best pizza so far, covered in very thin slices of a large porcini. My meal was vegetable spaghetti, literally; very long, thin pieces of carrot, celery, and zucchini in olive oil with seasoning. Desert was sweet strawberries in balsamic vinegar with whipped cream. What a feast of flavors for the tongue to sort out.
Fortified by the meal, we ventured into the Palace which houses a huge wooden horse by Donatello and the Grand Hall frescoes by Menaboui with Astrological theories by Mierto.

Inside the palazzo

Park in Padova

This Donatello sculpture ca. 1447 of famous Venetian condottiere, Erasmo da Narmi, was popularly called Gattamelata (The Honeyed Cat). The sculpture was very controversial at the time of its creation as it was an equestrian monument glorifying a man who was just a man, not a ruler. Such works had been executed solely for rulers.

Donatello's Gattamelatta

Welcome to the Basilica of Saint Anthony in Padua. The friars of Saint Anthony’s shrine have established a web site about the place where the body of the Saint which the world loves has been guarded for almost 8 centuries. http://www.basilicadelsanto.org/ing/visita/visita.asp
People touch tomb. Bedecked with photos and requests.
Cathedral of St Cristina. Tomb of St Luke, gospel writer. Luke had no head (in Rome)  and was missing a rib - sent to Thebes .Had seen a painting by St Luke of the Madonna in Bologna at the Cathedral of San Luca.
Rode bus around perimeter of Padova. Long ride.
Supermarket dinner