Palazzo del Bo and Anatomical Theatre

Palazzo del Bo, the historic campus of the University of Padua, is one of the oldest and most evocative architectural complexes in the city.

The building is developed through several buildings, organized around two main courtyards. The first is the Ancient Courtyard, dating back to the sixteenth century, whose walls are covered with ancient coats of arms and overlooked by the majestic Aula Magna and the first permanent Anatomical Theatre in the world (1595). The second is the New Courtyard, dating back to the twentieth century, which leads to a series of rooms decorated by important Italian artists under the supervision of the great designer Gio Ponti, also author of the redefinition of the spaces of the rectorate and the restyling of the Aula Magna, restored on the occasion of the celebrations for the eight hundredth anniversary of the University of Padua.

Contemporary art is widely represented at Palazzo del Bo, with works by some of the most important Italian artists of the twentieth century. Arturo Martini designed the statue of Palinuro (1947), dedicated to a partisan commander and symbol of the Resistance. The rooms also house frescoes and mosaics by Filippo De Pisis, Achille Funi, Ferruccio Ferrazzi and Gino Severini. In 1995, Jannis Kounellis created the sculpture Resistance and Liberation on the wall of the Cortile Nuovo, a powerful tribute to the fight against fascism and the liberation of Italy.