PADOVA city guide

Padua, Italy, (Italian: Padova IPA: , Latin: Patavium, Venetian: Padoa) is a city in the Veneto, northern Italy, the economic and communications hub of the region. The capital of Padova province, it stands on the Bacchiglione River, 40 km west of Venice and 29km southeast of Vicenza, with a population of 211,985 (2004). The city is included, with Venice (Italian Venezia), in the Padua-Venice Metropolitan Area, population 1,600,000. Its agricultural setting is the Pianura Padovana, the "Paduan plain," edged by the Euganaean Hills praised by Lucan and Martial, Petrarch, Ugo Foscolo, and Shelley. The city is picturesque, with a dense network of arcaded streets opening into large communal piazze, and many bridges crossing the various branches of the Bacchiglione, which once surrounded the ancient walls like a moat. Padua is the setting for most of the action in Shakespeare's The Taming of the Shrew.

• Rome City Guide - (Roma):
  The capital, both of Italy and of the ancient Roman Empire; center of the Roman Catholic Church (the Vatican).
• Bologna City Guide
  A major trade fair city.
• Florence City Guide - (Firenze):
  History, art, architecture. Uffizi gallery, David of Michelangelo Buonarroti.
• Genoa City Guide - (Genova)
  A vibrant and historical port city, birth place of Columbus.
• Milan City Guide - (Milano)
  Shares with Paris the title of fashion capital of the world and is the main financial and business center in the country.
• Naples City Guide - (Napoli)
  With its famous gulf and Vesuvius volcano, including Herculaneum and Pompeii.
• Pisa City Guide
  Home of the famous Leaning Tower.
• Venice City Guide - (Venezia)
  History, art. Saint Mark's Square. The city is built on a lagoon, filled with canals, with no roads for cars. Very poetic and romantic.
• Verona City Guide
  A restored Roman coliseum is the stage for modern opera productions. Verona is the city where Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet is based.