I happened to come across an old Observatory in the city of Padova. It was actually part of an old castle and one of the towers was used for astronomical observations. I don’t know if it is ever open for visits since it didn’t seem to be open at the time. I was only passing by since I was actually on the way to another place here in Padova. Not too far away from the old observatory is a small chapel which some people might just pass by oblivious to the importance of the chapel nearby. The area didn’t seem to be very busy in fact, it wasn’t very touristy at all that one would be surprised to find an important chapel here. Then again, one needs to consider that Padova is a very old city. Chances are high that there would be something of importance to see here.

The chapel I was going to visit is the Oratorio di San Michele Arcangelo or Oratory of Saint Michael the Archangel. It wasn’t too far from the hotel and it was along the local river. By the time I got there, it was still closed and I was confused. Was this another case of a place being closed during winter? So far, I haven’t run into this in Italy, except for the ones in the mountains which cater to summer visitors. There was a sign outside the door that I think said it only opens ten in the morning. It seems that I was early but I still had to wait for someone to go to the door and actually open it. I turned out to be the first visitor for the day and I had the entire place to myself. I don’t expect this place to have a lot of visitors since it seemed to be a little out of the way. I will see if this changes but for now, I will try to enjoy the chapel.

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