The best road cycling routes around Saonara

Located on viale Italia in Bovolenta, the Monument to the Fallen is a work of great emotional impact created by sculptor Rocco Mozzato and inaugurated in 1923. The sculptural group in Carrara marble and trachyte depicts the Motherland as a woman holding up a laurel wreath, flanked by a victorious soldier with a flag and a child symbolizing the future and rebirth. Unlike many contemporary works, it does not list individual names but celebrates the collective sacrifice of the soldiers from Bovolenta in the Great War through patriotic inscriptions. Since 2003, the site has also hosted a plaque in memory of Giorgio Perlasca, adding a further layer of civic and historical value to the place.

Basilica of Saint Anthony of Padua / Basilica of Saint Anthony, Padua The Basilica of Saint Anthony, known as "the Saint," is the city's most important religious center and attracts thousands of pilgrims every year, especially on June 13, the saint's feast day. The basilica was built in 1232 to protect the tomb of the Franciscan friar Anthony, who died in Padua in 1231. The large building presents a complex structure with a fusion of styles: Romanesque elements in the façade, Gothic elements in the ambulatory, Byzantine elements in the eight domes covered with lead, and Moorish elements in two tiers. The Church of Saint Anthony holds numerous reminders of the Carrara Signoria. In 1350, Cardinal Guido de Boulogne came to the cathedral to acknowledge the saint's miracle and was greeted by Jacopo II da Carrara and Bishop Hildebrand. Members of the Carraresi family, such as the Lupi di Soragna and the Conti, chose the basilica as the site for their own mausoleums. The Chapel of the Black Madonna now stands on the site of the earlier church, dedicated to Santa Maria, Mother of the Lord. The polychrome Madonna is by Rinaldino di Francia and dates from 1396. Rinaldino is also likely the artist of the shield bearing the portrait of Stefano da Carrara, now in the city museums. A funerary monument to Raffaele Fulgioso, a renowned jurist from the University of Padua, is located to the left of the chapel. The Chapel of Blessed Luca reveals even closer ties to the Carraresi family: it was built between 1380 and 1382 by Naimerio and Manfredino Conti, executing the will of Fina Buzzaccarini. They commissioned Giusto de'Menabuoi, a painter from the Carraresi court, to create the frescoes. The stories of Saints Philip and James, arranged on the chapel walls, reveal a surprising new sense of spaciousness. In the center, within the lunette, are portraits of the patrons: Saint Anthony, Blessed Luke, Saint Francis, and Saint Louis of Toulouse, as they are presented to the Virgin. Text / Source: Turismo Padova https://www.padua.info/de/padua/was-zu-sehen-ist/details/basilica-di-santantonio

Basilica of Santa Giustina, Padua The Basilica of Santa Giustina, which housed one of the most important and influential religious communities in Padua during the Middle Ages, has its origins long before the arrival of the monks: The first basilica was built in the 6th century on the site of the former cemetery of Prato della Valle, where the young martyr Giustina, a victim of Maximian's persecutions of Christians, was buried in 304 AD. The arrival of the Benedictines in Padua dates back to the 10th century. After their settlement, the remains of saints, hidden during the barbarian invasions, gradually came to light, including those of Saint Giustina and Saint Luke the Evangelist, author of the Third Gospel and chronicler of the Acts of the Apostles. His relics were brought from Thebes (Greece) to Constantinople and then from Constantinople to Padua. The present basilica dates from the 16th century and is 122 meters long, with three naves in the form of a Latin cross. The apse contains the remarkable carvings of the 15th-century wooden choir and the altarpiece by Paolo Veronese from 1575, depicting the Martyrdom of Saint Giustina. The transept houses the tomb of Saint Luke the Evangelist on the left and the tomb of Saint Matthias the Apostle on the right. From there, the impressive Martyrs' Corridor leads to the chapel in the form of a Greek cross, built at the end of the 6th century on the tomb of Saint Prosdocimus, the first Bishop of Padua. The monastery was dissolved by Napoleon in 1810 and served as a barracks until 1919, when the Benedictines returned to Sant'Giustina. Only with an authorized guide is it possible to visit the 14th-century Chapel of St. Luke, where Elena Lucrezia Cornaro Piscopia, the world's first female academic (1678), is buried, as well as the old 15th-century choir and the vestibule leading to the sacristy. Text / Source: Prato della Valle - Sagrato di Santa Giustina, Padova (PD) http://www.abbaziasantagiustina.org https://www.turismopadova.it/de/orte/benediktinerabtei-der-heiligen-giustina/

It's beautiful but it makes a mess when you ride a bike through it.

beautiful villa on the edge of the cycle path to Padua

Internal channel

The Naviglio Interno was an ancient canal that ran through the eastern part of the historic center. In the 1950s it was almost completely filled in.

Ok for children too