Prato della Valle and il Santo
In popular tradition, the “Prà without grass” is, together with the Saint without a name (Saint Anthony) and the café without doors (Caffè Pedrocchi), one of Padua’s famous three “withouts”. There are 78 statues of illustrious figures surrounding the large elliptical green island encircled by a canal: its present appearance was given in 1775, on the initiative of the Venetian patrician Andrea Memmo, with the aim of reclaiming and revitalising what was once an unhealthy, marshy area of the city. Overlooking the square is the imposing mass of the Basilica of Saint Giustina which, with its 122 metres in length and 82 in width, is not only a national monument but also one of the largest churches in Christendom; it houses several treasures of history and art, including a great library of 130,000 volumes.
In the Paduan tradition, Saint Anthony is the “Saint” par excellence. The Basilica – together with those of Loreto and of Saint Francis of Assisi – belongs directly to the Vatican City 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 Saint George) and Titian (in the Scuola del Santo). The feast of Saint Anthony, patron saint of the city, is on 13 June.