Padova: Palazzo della Ragione

Our first timed-entry today was at 10:00a … at the Palace of Reason (I’ve also seen the name translated as the Palace of Accounts.

As it turns out, there was no need to pre-purchase our admission … at least not today. Not only did we have the place pretty much to ourselves while we were there, but also the attendant allowed us to enter well before our ticketed time.

The palazzo was constructed in 1218 at the location where once a Roman forum stood … though it was another century before the ship-keel vaulted ceiling was added and the portico-loggias were introduced on both sides of the building. Until the 18th century, the palace was the administrative center and seat of the courts of justice.

The “il Salone,” on the first floor is massive … 266 feet long; 89 feet wide … with walls that are just as high. The walls are covered with frescoes depicting astrological subjects, making it one of the largest Medieval hanging halls in the world. The current frescos date back to 1420-1430 … they replaced the original Giotto frescos that were destroyed in a fire. The “new” fresco cycle is in three tiers above earlier 13th century paintings of animals that indicated the locations of the various tribunals.

Aside from the frescos, there are three items of interest in “il Salone” — a wooden horse built for a city joust in 1466 … a copy based on Donatello’s bronze statue of Gattamelata; a pietra del vituperio (stone of shame) … a 13th-century stone seat carved from black porphyry … historically used in a public shaming ritual designed for insolvent debtors who were often stripped down to their underwear first; and a Foucault pendulum … a simple device that was first used in 1851 to demonstrate the earth’s rotation.

We spent about 45 minutes at the Palazzo della Ragione … way more time than was spent by the few visitors who came and went while we were there. I would have dawdled longer, but a sign we saw at the entrance to the palace added another place to today’s plans, so we moved on.Read more