• Padova: Musei Civici degli Eremitani

    23. april, Italien ⋅ ☀️ 68 °F

    Not unlike Bologna — and other Italian cities — Padova has a collection of civic museums. Having already visited the Palazzo della Ragione this morning, after lunch we headed to the Eremitani Civic Museums … just a short walk from the restaurant.

    Housed in the former convent of the Eremitani, there are two museums here … the Archaeological Museum and the Museum of Medieval and Modern Art.

    The Archaeological Museum exhibits a collection of artifacts from the Paleovenetian to the Roman periods … the purpose being to document life in the countryside of ancient Padova. There is also a section dedicated to Egyptian artifacts … donated by Giovan Battista Belzoni, a Padovano explorer and pioneer archeologist.

    The Museum of Medieval and Modern Art — modern being relative, of course — is a gallery that has a collection of over 3,000 works by great masters of Italian painting… only a quarter of which are exhibited at any given time. The collection also includes sculptures, architectural fragments, frescos, altarpieces, the cross painted by Giotto for the Scrovegni Chapel, and more.

    As has become our habit, Mui and I wandered through the museum complex and searched out the items highlighted in the brochure/map we were given on entry. We completed our mission in about an hour. Mui then left to return to the apartment while I remained behind for a leisurely study of the items on exhibit.

    It was 4:30p when I left the museum to stroll through the Arena Romana … an ancient amphitheater from about 70 AD … now a public park. My stroll took me through the grounds and out to the Giardini dell’Arena at the other end. As peaceful as the Arena Romana was, the garden was a hub-bub of activity, the café on the premises was doing brisk business and those who had not been able to grab a table, were enjoying picnics on the grass.

    Exiting the gardens, the apartment was just a short walk away. Time to rest up before our evening plans take us back out again.
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