Padua (town)

Town in Veneto, northern Italy, on the canalized section of the River Bacchiglione, 38 km/24 mi west of Venice; population (2001 est) 203,400. Industries include engineering, and the manufacture of clothing, bicycles, leather goods, and man-made fibres. The astronomer Galileo taught at the university, founded in 1222.

Features include the 13th-century Palazzo della Ragione, the basilica of S Antonio, and the botanical gardens, laid out in 1545. Padua is the birthplace of the Roman historian Livy and the painter Andrea Mantegna.