Ninety thousand square metres: Italy's largest square and among Europe's biggest is actually an island — the Memmia — ringed by an elliptical channel watched over by 78 statues of illustrious Paduans and famous guests. It was an unhealthy marsh: the Venetian enlightener Andrea Memmo turned it in 1775 into this theatre of water and lawns that Paduans simply call "il Prato".
Around it, the basilica of Santa Giustina and — steps away — the UNESCO Botanical Garden of 1545, the world's oldest still on its original site.
Our tip: Saturday morning brings the great market, Saturday evening the passeggiata: two faces of the same drawing room. The ring walk at sunset, statues reflected in the water, is the photographic moment.
