Giotto's frescoes
Padua is one of the great art cities of the Veneto, and its most precious treasure is the Scrovegni Chapel, which together with other fourteenth century fresco cycles of the city forms the UNESCO site "Padua's fourteenth-century fresco cycles". The small chapel was commissioned by the banker Enrico Scrovegni, perhaps to atone for the sin of usury of his father Reginaldo, whom Dante placed in Hell.
Between 1303 and 1305 Giotto covered its walls with a cycle of frescoes that marked a turning point in the history of Western art. In 38 scenes arranged in three bands he told the stories of Joachim and Anne, the life of the Virgin and the life and passion of Christ, with figures of unprecedented solidity and humanity, expressive faces and gestures and real space, under a vault of intense lapis lazuli blue studded with gold stars. Among the most famous scenes are the Kiss of Judas, the Lamentation over the Dead Christ, with angels crying in the sky, and the meeting at the Golden Gate. The opposite wall is occupied by a huge Last Judgement, in which Enrico Scrovegni himself offers the chapel to the Virgin.
Tip: to protect the frescoes, visits last 15 minutes after a stay in a climate-controlled room; book well in advance. The night visits in summer are magical.
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