I was on a mission to visit all four sites of Padua’s Fourteenth Century Fresco Cycles which is a UNESCO World Heritage site. The individual locations are close enough for me to visit it them on foot. I have been to the Basilica of Saint Anthony of Padua as well as the Oratory of Saint Michael Archangel. That leaves me with two more and it was still morning. I think I should have enough time to visit the rest. However, this doesn’t mean that I won’t be seeing other places along the way. Such a place is the Padua Cathedral or Basilica Cathedrale di Santa Maria Assunta.

I was surprised to know that the Basilica of Saint Anthony of Padua isn’t the main cathedral of the city. Instead, it is this one. I guess Padova has the luxury of having two basilicas within the city. You can tell how old this place is since that cathedral building is also the third building on this site. The first one was built in the fourth century. The following one was built in the twelfth century and the current one was built in the sixteenth century. To me it is mind boggling that this is already the third iteration of the cathedral. For it to be continually rebuilt is also a testament to the importance of Padova as a city. After all, why bother building a cathedral in a city which isn’t that important after all.

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