PA'DOVA (called by the English Padua), the chief city of the province of Padova in Austrian Italy, is situated in a fertile plain, in 45° 25' N. lat., 11° 55' 11 long., 21 miles by railway W. by S. from Venice. The river Bacchiglione flows by its walls. Padova is fortified with walls, ditches, and bastions, and is above 0 miles in circumference ; but it is thinly inhabited, the population not exceeding 50,000. Most of the streets, especially in the old part of the town, are narrow and lined with arcades; it has however some fine squares and handsome gates. The principal buildings are—the cathedral, begun in the 12th century, and having a fine baptistery; the episcopal palace ; tho churches of Sant' Antonio, Santa Giustina, Santa Croce, the church of the Eremetani, and many others, adorned with fine paintings and sculptures ; the university, containing an anatomical theatre, a cabinet of natural history, an observatory, and a library of 70,000 volumes ; several colleges ; the palace del Capitanio ; the palace Giustiniaui, the QOM Pedrocchi, one of the most splendid coffee-houses and assembly rooms in Europe ; and the court-house or palace of justice (originally called the Palace of Reason), a vast structure, of which the great hall measures 300 feet long. 100 feet wide, and 100 feet high. The botanical
garden and the Prato della Valle, or public promenade, are adorned with numerous statues. Among the antiquities none are prized morn highly than the so-called monuments of Antenor (the fabled founder of the city) and Livy the historian.
Patavium, on the site of which Padova stands, was considered in Roman times one of the oldest towns of Italy. At the fall of the Roman empire, it was destroyed by Attila, and the inhabitants removed to the islanda in the lagoons, where they founded Venice. Patavium was rebuilt by Narses, ravaged by the Longobarde, and restored by Charlemagne. It afterwards governed itself for a long time as a free municipality with its consuls and podestas. In the 13th century Ezzelino da Romauo usurped the sovereign power, but after his death the Paduans not only regained their freedom, but extended their authority over several adjacent provinces. Soon after the Carrara became lords of Padova, until 1406, when Venice took it by force and united it to its territory.