Padua has the Scrovegni Chapel (Giotto's greatest work). But Padua's HEART is the Basilica di Sant'Antonio. Called simply "Il Santo" by Paduans — no need to specify which saint — this is one of the most visited pilgrimage churches in the world: 6.5 million visitors/year come to pray at the tomb of St. Anthony of Padua (1195-1231), the Franciscan friar who became the patron saint of lost things, lost people, and lost causes. The basilica (begun 1232, one year after Anthony's death) is an architectural collision: Romanesque body, Gothic flying buttresses, Byzantine domes (8 of them — it looks like a Middle Eastern palace from above), and inside, Donatello's bronze masterpieces — the high altar reliefs and the Gattamelata equestrian monument outside. Padua guide →
Plan my Padua visit →Donatello's High Altar (1443-50): Seven bronze statues (Madonna and Child flanked by six saints) and four bronze narrative reliefs depicting the miracles of St. Anthony. The reliefs are revolutionary — Donatello invented a technique called "rilievo schiacciato" (flattened relief) that creates the illusion of deep space in millimeters of bronze. Gattamelata (1453): Outside the basilica, the equestrian monument to the mercenary captain Erasmo da Narni is the first large-scale equestrian bronze since antiquity — Donatello essentially reinvented the genre. It influenced every equestrian statue made afterward, including Verrocchio's Colleoni in Venice.
The Cappella delle Reliquie: Behind the high altar, a chapel displays the relics of St. Anthony — including his jawbone and tongue, preserved in gilded reliquaries. The tongue is intact and pink after 800 years, which the Church considers miraculous (Anthony was famous for preaching). The Cappella del Santo: 16th-century marble reliefs by Tullio and Antonio Lombardo depicting miracles of the saint — some of the finest Renaissance sculptural narrative in Italy.
Address: Piazza del Santo, Padua (15min walk from station, or tram). Entry: free (the basilica is a Pontifical Basilica, always free). Guided tours available €8-10. Hours: daily 6:20am-6:45pm (April-Oct until 7:45pm). Duration: 1 hour. Dress code: shoulders and knees covered. Mass: multiple daily — if you're visiting during Mass, move quietly. Combine with: Padua Scrovegni Chapel (20min walk — BOOK in advance, €14), Prato della Valle (Italy's largest piazza, 5min), Orto Botanico (the world's oldest university botanical garden, 1545, UNESCO, 2min walk).