Best Hotels in Padua

Padua, Italy - famous as the setting for Shakespeare's Taming of the Shrew - is located just 40 kilometers west of Venice and is the home of some of the finest artwork in Europe. The Scrovegni Chapel, completed in 1305, houses a fresco cycle by the Renaissance master Giotto that celebrates the life of the Virgin Mary; people consider it one of the most important artworks in Western history. In front of the Pontifical Basilica of Saint Anthony (completed in 1301) is a bronze equestrian statue by Donatello, the first full-size cast of its type since antiquity. The University of Padua is one of the oldest universities in the world, founded in 1222; among its famous faculty and alumni are Copernicus and Galileo. The university is also home to the oldest botanical garden in the world, the Orto Botanico di Padova.