Saint Nicolò

Enchanting ... a feeling of ancient ... but a familiar church dedicated to San Nicola di Myra, the saint's relics are located partly between Bari and Venice and a small part in Padua. Protector of Children is the saint who brings gifts before Christmas. In the church you can admire a precious baptismal font of red Verona marble, religious paintings and furnishings of high artistic value, an important painting by Tiepolo "The Holy Family" and other local painters. It is one of the oldest churches in Padua (possibly from 1088), it has been a parish of the Diocese since 1278. The churchyard with the small square functioned until 1700 as a cemetery area now covered with Trachyte slabs of the Euganean Hills.

Beautiful church (XII-XIV century), excellently restored with interesting recovered frescoes. There are discreet pictorial works and remarkable bas-reliefs. Very nice also the square in front, little known and rarely frequented by tourists.

Once connected with the complex of the Carrarese Palace, the Church of S. Nicolò was founded in 1088, but in 1973, during some restoration works, the presence of foundations from a much earlier period was revealed. Since 1178, the year in which it was counted as one of the parishes of the city, it is known that there was a cemetery in correspondence with the present churchyard and that many Paduan noble families were buried inside the church. However, the current layout of the church dates back to the 16th century. Following successive renovations and restorations, the church was raised and enlarged, with the addition of a fourth nave on the southern side of the church. The portal, preceded by a forepart and flanked by the Romanesque bell tower, was built at the end of the 15th century and was designed in Lombard style. The interior, divided into aisles covered by cross vaults, underwent a careful restoration from 1966 to 1971. In the 1990s, the makeover was resumed resulting in the return of the interiors to their original Romanesque style, removing the additions and modifications of the Baroque era. In the first chapel on the right there is a painting of Sant'Agnese in gloria. In the Chapel, known as the Baptistery, once equipped with its own entrance, the sixteenth-century baptismal font is visible. On the back, above the tomb of the Forzaté family, a wooden triptych of the fourteenth century, by an unknown artist, depicting the Madonna and Child and, on the two sides, the Saints Giacomo and San Leonardo. At the center of the sarcophagus we find the depiction of rampant deer, the coat of arms of the Forzatè family, which still adorn the facade today.

Beautiful church in the center of Padua

Very nice in the historic center of Padua, parking difficulties though ...

Parish since 1178, but present in the Po Valley from much earlier, the Church, dedicated to San Nicolò, is central to Padua with its clean appearance (the rose window on the facade is splendid) restored to its ancient features thanks to a 1960 restoration which, eliminating part of the Baroque embellishments, aroused not a few perplexities at the time. Even the splendid bell tower was added in the 19th century, it also seems that in the place of the current churchyard, once there was a cemetery, as was customary until the Napoleonic occupation, so walk with discretion, not disturbed before crossing the threshold. .. The interior, with four asymmetrical naves, presents numerous pictorial works, above all the Holy Family of 1777 by Tiepolo, the altars (there were eleven before the restoration ...), sculptures and fresco fragments from 1370. The Parish Church invites you to pray, if only for the ancient spirit that permeates it, a pity for the usual external beggar waiting for donations.