Basilica of St Anthony

Anthony of Padua died in 1231 and was canonised within a year; construction began almost immediately and produced a building that mixes Romanesque, Gothic and Byzantine ideas, with eight domes, two slender towers and a bell tower, unlike anything else in Italy. The saint's tomb is in a marble chapel lined with relief panels, and pilgrims file past touching the stone. Donatello made the high altar bronzes and the equestrian monument to the condottiere Gattamelata that stands in the square outside, the first large bronze equestrian cast since antiquity. Padua residents often call the building simply il Santo.

Background

Building probably began around 1232 and was completed in 1310. Anthony was first laid to rest in Santa Maria Mater Domini, a small church beside which he had founded a convent in 1229. The new church started with a single nave, like that of St Francis at Assisi, under domes modelled on San Marco in Venice, and Gothic aisles followed later in the 13th century, with an eastern apse ringed by nine radiating chapels. His body has lain in its own chapel since 1350, and his relics are kept in the Baroque Treasury chapel, begun in 1691 by Filippo Parodi, a pupil of Bernini. Two chapels joined the UNESCO listing of Padua's fourteenth-century fresco cycles in 2021.

Source: Wikipedia, "Basilica of Saint Anthony of Padua"

What you'll find

• The eight domes - a skyline mixing Byzantine and Gothic forms.
• The tomb chapel - a marble chapel where pilgrims file past the stone.
• The Donatello bronzes - high altar reliefs and figures inside.
• The Gattamelata - the first large bronze equestrian statue since antiquity.

When to go

Year-round; 13 June, the saint's feast, brings the largest crowds. Services run through the day and access pauses during them. Dress code applies.

Before you go

It is a working pilgrimage church with devotional priorities and heavy crowds at the tomb. Photography is restricted. The treasury keeps separate hours.

Nearby

The Scrovegni Chapel lies north; Prato della Valle is west.