The Walls of Padua (Italian: ''cinta muraria di Padova'') are a complex of defensive works around the
Italian
Italian(s) may refer to:
* Anything of, from, or related to the people of Italy over the centuries
** Italians, an ethnic group or simply a citizen of the Italian Republic or Italian Kingdom
** Italian language, a Romance language
*** Regional Ita ...
city of
Padua
Padua ( ; it, Padova ; vec, Pàdova) is a city and ''comune'' in Veneto, northern Italy. Padua is on the river Bacchiglione, west of Venice. It is the capital of the province of Padua. It is also the economic and communications hub of the ...
, designed to defend it from hostile attack. It was built in 4 phases.
Phases
Roman
Of the walls built during the
ancient Roman
In modern historiography, ancient Rome refers to Roman civilisation from the founding of the city of Rome in the 8th century BC to the collapse of the Western Roman Empire in the 5th century AD. It encompasses the Roman Kingdom (753–509 BC ...
era, the only traces to survive are those incorporated into the foundations of certain palazzi. The route of this wall corresponded to a meander of the river Medoacus (now the
Brenta River
The Brenta is an Italian river that runs from Trentino to the Adriatic Sea just south of the Venetian lagoon in the Veneto region, in the north-east of Italy.
During the Roman era, it was called Medoacus (Ancient Greek: ''Mediochos'', ''Μηδ ...
) in which developed Padua's first urban centre.
13th century
The ''Mura Duecentesche'' ("13th century walls"; also known as the ''mura comunali'' or ''mura medievali'') were built at the start of the 13th century by the Comune of Padua. Their route was delimited by the two branches of the
Bacchiglione
__NOTOC__
The Bacchiglione ( la, Medoacus Minor, "Little Medoacus") is a river that flows in Veneto, northern Italy. It rises in the Alps and empties about later into the Brenta River near Chioggia. It flows through and past a number of cities, in ...
, the
Tronco Maestro and the
Naviglio Interno, which came to be used as defensive ditches. There are several remains of them around the Castello and near Porta Molino. More minor remains are to be found in the Riviera Tito Livio and Riviera Albertino Mussato; the only gates to remain from this wall are the main north gate, Porta Molino (or Molini, after several mills in the area which functioned up to the early 20th century), and the main west gate, Porta Altinate (named after the road to
Altino which began here).
The Porta Molino's upper stories were used at the end of the 19th century as a reservoir the town's first drinking water system, though tales of the tower being used as an observatory by
Galileo Galilei
Galileo di Vincenzo Bonaiuti de' Galilei (15 February 1564 – 8 January 1642) was an Italian astronomer, physicist and engineer, sometimes described as a polymath. Commonly referred to as Galileo, his name was pronounced (, ). He was ...
during his time in the city are probably false. The Porta Altinate fronted onto the Naviglio Interno, crossed by an ancient Roman three-arch bridge (the Naviglio and the bridge were buried in the 1960s), and in 1256 this gate was stormed and destroyed by crusaders fighting against
Ezzelino da Romano (as recorded in an inscription recorded by
Carlo Leoni). It was rebuilt in 1286.
Image:Alti-gar.jpg, Porta Altinate seen from Piazza Garibaldi.
Image:Altinate-2.jpg, Porta Altinate seen from the ''Contrada Altinate''.
Image:Porta Altinate (Padova) jm56452 (cropped).jpg, Monument to Alvise Pisani, inside Porta Altinate.
14th century
The ''Mura Carraresi'' ("Carraresi's Walls") were built by the
Carraresi
The House of Carrara or Carraresi (da Carrara) was an important family of northern Italy in the 12th to 15th centuries. The family held the title of Lords of Padua from 1318 to 1405.
Under their rule, Padua conquered Verona, Vicenza, Treviso, F ...
in the 14th century and followed a route which corresponds almost entirely to that of the later 16th century wall. Almost nothing remains of them, since they were demolished during the
War of the League of Cambrai
The War of the League of Cambrai, sometimes known as the War of the Holy League and several other names, was fought from February 1508 to December 1516 as part of the Italian Wars of 1494–1559. The main participants of the war, who fough ...
to create the Renaissance wall - some sections can be seen in via delle Dimesse, near the
Prato della Valle
Prato della Valle (''Prà deła Vałe'' in Venetian) is a 90,000-square-meter elliptical square in Padova, Italy. It is the largest square in Italy, Lionello Puppi, Giuseppe Toffanin. Guida di Padova. ''Arte e storia tra vie e piazze.'' Trie ...
.
16th century
The ''Mura Cinquecentesche'' ("16th-century Walls"; also known as the Mura ''rinascimentali'' or ''Veneziane'') were built during the first decades of the 16th century by the
Venetian Republic
The Republic of Venice ( vec, Repùblega de Venèsia) or Venetian Republic ( vec, Repùblega Vèneta, links=no), traditionally known as La Serenissima ( en, Most Serene Republic of Venice, italics=yes; vec, Serenìsima Repùblega de Venèsia, ...
under the local leadership of the
condottiero
''Condottieri'' (; singular ''condottiero'' or ''condottiere'') were Italian captains in command of mercenary companies during the Middle Ages and of multinational armies during the early modern period. They notably served popes and other Europe ...
Bartolomeo d'Alviano
Bartolomeo d'Alviano (c. 1455 – October 1515) was an Italian condottiero and captain who distinguished himself in the defence of the Venetian Republic against the Holy Roman Emperor Maximilian.
Biography
Bartolomeo d'Alviano was born in 1455 ...
. The west flank was protected by the canal still known as the ''fossa Bastioni''. Most of the walls and nearly all the gates survive unbroken apart from sections demolished in the 1960s to build the new Ospedale Civile. The gates include:
*Porta Savonarola - Completed in 1530. Designed by the architect
Giovanni Maria Falconetto
Giovanni Maria Falconetto (c. 1468–1535) was an Italian architect and artist. He designed among the first high Renaissance buildings in Padua, the '' Loggia Cornaro'', a garden ''loggia'' for Alvise Cornaro built as a Roman doric arcade. Alon ...
, this gate was built with a frieze showing the
Lion of Saint Mark
The Lion of Saint Mark, representing Mark the Evangelist, pictured in the form of a winged lion, is an aspect of the Tetramorph. On the pinnacle of St Mark's Cathedral he is depicted as holding a Bible, and surmounting a golden lion which is t ...
, symbol of the Venetian Republic, which still survives.
*Porta san Giovanni - Completed in 1528. Designed by the architect
Giovanni Maria Falconetto
Giovanni Maria Falconetto (c. 1468–1535) was an Italian architect and artist. He designed among the first high Renaissance buildings in Padua, the '' Loggia Cornaro'', a garden ''loggia'' for Alvise Cornaro built as a Roman doric arcade. Alon ...
, this gate originally had a frieze showing the
Lion of Saint Mark
The Lion of Saint Mark, representing Mark the Evangelist, pictured in the form of a winged lion, is an aspect of the Tetramorph. On the pinnacle of St Mark's Cathedral he is depicted as holding a Bible, and surmounting a golden lion which is t ...
, symbol of the Venetian Republic (the frieze here was destroyed during the
Napoleonic Wars
The Napoleonic Wars (1803–1815) were a series of major global conflicts pitting the French Empire and its allies, led by Napoleon I, against a fluctuating array of European states formed into various coalitions. It produced a period of Fren ...
).
* (or Portello, Portello Nuovo or Portello Venezia) - Originally entitled Portello or Little Port, the gate was built at the terminus for the river trade along the Brenta between Padua and Venice. The present building replaces the Portello Vecchio, on what is now via San Massimo, but is different from the city's other contemporary gates - the external facade is adorned with white Istrian marble, with four pairs of columns surmounted by an
architrave
In classical architecture, an architrave (; from it, architrave "chief beam", also called an epistyle; from Greek ἐπίστυλον ''epistylon'' "door frame") is the lintel or beam that rests on the capitals of columns.
The term can ...
embellished with four
trachyte
Trachyte () is an extrusive igneous rock composed mostly of alkali feldspar. It is usually light-colored and aphanitic (fine-grained), with minor amounts of mafic minerals, and is formed by the rapid cooling of lava enriched with silica and al ...
cannonballs. The three-arch bridge carrying the road over the
Canale Piovego Canale may refer to:
Places
;Italy
* Canale, Piedmont, a ''comune'' in the Province of Cuneo
* Canale, Trentino-Alto Adige/Südtirol, a ''frazione'' in the Province of Trento
* Canale d'Agordo, a ''comune'' in the Province of Belluno, Veneto
* Can ...
and through the gate is guarded by two white stone lions. This conceals the gate's true tactical nature. Stones in the gate (still legible today) commemorate the ancient origins of the town, eulogising its good governance. Since 1535 a clock stands out from the gate on a sort of "torrino" (vaguely like that on the
Quirinal
The Quirinal Hill (; la, Collis Quirinalis; it, Quirinale ) is one of the Seven Hills of Rome, at the north-east of the city center. It is the location of the official residence of the Italian head of state, who resides in the Quirinal Palace ...
), in
Nanto stone, atop the gate. Traces of frescoes can also be seen inside the gate.
* Porta Liviana - Begun in 1509, it was completed in 1517 and named in honour of Bartolomeo d'Alviano himself.
* Porta Santa Croce - On the site of a gate in the Carraresi wall, the present gate was begun in 1509 and was originally defended by a tower, demolished in 1632.
File:Padova Porta Savonarola 060905.jpg, Porta Savonarola
File:Padova Porta San Giovanni 060906.jpg, Porta San Giovanni
Image:Porta-ognis-nord.jpg, View of Porta Ognissanti from the north.
Image:Porta-ognis-sudest.jpg, View of Porta Ognissanti from the south-east.
Image:Porta-ognis-sud2.jpg, View of Porta Ognissanti from the south.
Image:Porta-ognis-ovest2.jpg, View of Porta Ognissanti from the west.
Image:Scale-portello.jpg, The ''Scalette del Portello'' seen from Porta Ognissanti.
Image:Affresco-ognis.jpg, Detail of the frescoes inside Porta Ognissanti.
Image:Porta-ognis-dettaglio.jpg, Detail of the view of Porta Ognissanti from the north.
File:Porta Santa Croce 10-20 2022.jpg, Approach to the Porta Santa Croce.
Later use of the walls
Recent discussions about the city walls have discussed creating a green ring around them, a green lung as envisioned by the town planner
Luigi Piccinato
Luigi Piccinato (30 October 1899 – 29 July 1983) was an Italian architect and town planner.
Works
* ''Urbanistica medioevale'', Florence, 1943
* Napoli Centrale railway station, Naples, 1954
* Stadio Adriatico, Pescara, 1955
* A-Block Apartment ...
, though recent works seem to be moving in the opposite direction (including the controversial monument "Memory and Light" by the architect
Daniel Libeskind
Daniel Libeskind (born May 12, 1946) is a Polish–American architect, artist, professor and set designer. Libeskind founded Studio Daniel Libeskind in 1989 with his wife, Nina, and is its principal design architect.
He is known for the design a ...
in the golena of the Porte Contarine).
External links
Photos of the walls
References
*
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Walls Of Padua
Buildings and structures in Padua
Padua
Padua ( ; it, Padova ; vec, Pàdova) is a city and ''comune'' in Veneto, northern Italy. Padua is on the river Bacchiglione, west of Venice. It is the capital of the province of Padua. It is also the economic and communications hub of the ...
Gates of Padua