Prato della Valle and the Saint
In popular tradition the "Prà senza erba" constitutes, together with the Saint without a name (Sant'Antonio) and the coffee without doors (the Caffè Pedrocchi), one of the famous three "without" of Padova. There are 78 statues of illustrious people surrounding the large elliptical green island surrounded by a canal: the current appearance was given in 1775, on the initiative of the Venetian patrician Andrea Memmo, with the aim of reclaiming and revitalizing what was once an unhealthy and marshy area of the city. On the square stands the imposing bulk of the basilica of Santa Giustina which, with its 122 meters in length and 82 in width, is not only a national monument but also one of the largest churches in Christianity; It houses several treasures of history and art, including a large library of 130,000 volumes.
In the Paduan tradition, St. Anthony is the "Saint" par excellence. The Basilica – together with those of Loreto and St. Francis of Assisi – belongs directly to the Vatican State, and is visited every year by millions of pilgrims from all over the world; it preserves masterpieces by Donatello, Altichiero da Zevio (in the Oratory of San Giorgio) and Titian (in the Scuola del Santo). The feast of St. Anthony, the patron saint of the city, is on June 13.