Sunday in Padua

The shops are all closed and the streets are quiet, and yet every public space has an activity of some sort to engage the community.  In one, there is a stage set up for a trio of musicians to belt out tunes to an appreciative audience; in another there is a line of tents offering samples of local produce including cheeses, preserves, salami and even bowls of hot risotto!  A further square has been set aside for a parade of old cars, proudly driven through by their owners, each with a pretty Italian maiden in the front passenger seat, all dressed-up and ready to be photographed when they reach the other side and she positions herself alluringly beside the bonnet.  Every piazza is a little hive of activity and we repeatedly question what Robert Doyle (Melbourne's Lord Mayor) would make of it all.  We suspect such fun could never be had at home in the Nanny State.

No bikes, no vehicles and no people - all very peaceful

Via Belludi with Basilica di Sant'Antonio da Padova straight ahead.  The basilica was begun in about 1230 and completed the following century.  The bones of the saint lie in a marble-decorated chapel here.

A grand piano has been rolled out to entertain in Piazza Cavour - old and young gather to listen.  Cyclists stop and lean against their bikes, paying full attention, then mounting again and riding off.

Sculpture exhibition - this is in a former piazza which has been covered over with a glass roof and now houses a multi-storey gallery for artists of all kinds.  The architects have maintained the ancient columns and curved arches of the original area, but given it a new lease of life by converting it into this light, spacious public room.

An unexpected find - Chiesa di S. Gaetano - an absolutely magnificent church with an absolutely ordinary facade.

Arched colonnades - a feature of Paduan streets.

Chestnuts cooking in Piazza di Signori.  It is currently chestnut season and in most piazzas there is someone roasting them over an open fire, and everywhere there are people walking about with paper bags of hot chestnuts they are juggling from hand to hand while munching.  This fellow was charging five euros for 300g.  That's about AUD$6.70

D1 (text) & D2 (photos)