Arquà Petrarca

Small jewel nestled in the quiet of the Euganean Hills

Considered the jewel of the Euganean Hills, the medieval village of Arquà Petrarca has kept the same charm and silence that conquered the poet, Francesco Petrarca. This town was admitted into the restricted club of the "Most Beautiful Villages of Italy" and has been elected for the Orange Flag of the Touring Club.

This village has many interesting historical and cultural places and monuments. The Venetian gothic Building Contarini and the church of S. Maria Assunta with its precious painting of the Assumption by Palma the Younger overlook Piazza Roma. The tomb of Petrarch can be found in the adjacent churchyard, it is an ark of red Verona marble that still contains the remains of the Poet.

In Piazza San Marco you can see the Holy Trinity oratory, a church that was dear to Petrarch, containing a seventeenth-century wooden altar and another altarpiece by Palma the Younger. The Loggia of the Vicari is adjacent to the church and is decorated with the crests of the noble Paduan rectors. A visit to the house in which Petrarch lived is a must for those who come to Arquà. The house is surrounded by a charming garden and still holds a series of historic relics and some of the Poet's works.

If you continue to stroll the streets of the town, you will see Villa Alessi, the current venue for concerts and events, Casa Strozzi, now an art gallery, and Villa Rova, a typical example of a Venetian villa of the 1400s. Villa Centanin hosts a permanent exhibition of antique pianos and is home to concerts, including a classical music festival.

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