university of padua

woollymac

Fantastic tour of the Palazzo di Bo - you won't be disappointed if you are at all interested in Science and it's history. You will be amazed.

ToniPatton

I visited the University of Padova on a business trip and enjoyed it immensely. The university is a wonderful mixture of old and new. There are wonderful facilities for students and visiting academics. The older sections of the University are of great historical interest. I look forward to a return visit in the summer.

adnanmordeniz

The University of Padua is the second oldest university in Italy. You need a guided tour to visit the university. Guided tours of Palazzo del Bo include the anatomical theatre and also the Galileo Galilei’s Aula Magna and the Aula di Medicina where lectures on medicine given.Recomended..

Gokce_Turkmendag

Palazzo del Bo is the main building of the University of Padova, which is the second oldest university in Italy, built in 1922. Galileo was giving lectures there. You need to join a guided tour to visit the university. It takes 1 hour and you can see the world's oldest anatomical theater and "Aula di Medicina", where lectures on medicine were originally given. In the meeting room there is a display of skulls, which belong to the university professors who donated their body as cadaver. All the rooms are very interesting. Our tour was given in Italian and English. The tickets are sold 15 minutes before the tours begin, but the number of tickets are limited. We had to wait for the next tour because the tickets were sold out. So I suggest to be there 30 minutes before the tour starts.

KirkE266

The University of Padua was Europe's second institute of higher learning, after Bologna and before Oxford. Once dedicated exclusively to the law, it later grew to include the liberal arts and earned itself a rather renegade reputation. Open to Jews and Muslims in the 17th century, it later became a hotbed of anti-Nazi resistance. Non-students may visit the campus' more historical rooms, but only as part of a one-hour guided tour. Experiences may vary depending on the guide's level of enthusiasm. Ours was cordial and informative, frequently digressing from the canned speech and addressing individual questions. Padua's medical school became world-famous, and the highlight of the tour is the anatomy theatre with its conical observation platform, which still manages to convey just how grisly the science of anatomy was many centuries ago. Equally fascinating is the theory room next door, where students defended their theses amidst the skulls of past professors who had willed their bodies to the university for research. And you thought you had it tough in college.

DonPaulo

We were astonished by the list of faculty and graduates of the University. Try Galileo and Copernicus for starters - and they were not even in the Medical School. The paintings of the famous medical students reflected how important Padua was in educating the future medical teachers of Europe. The anatomy theater tour placed you where you got a cadaver-eye view of the spectators, so to speak. Alas, visitors must join a group. Our guide was good, but the group too large and the price a bit steep. Time and group size made the presentation rather general and our questions remained unasked until after the tour ended.

sbarkley

As both of us are doctors, we couldn't pass up the opportunity to visit the Palazzo Bo and see the world's first dissection theatre.Although there was a graduation ceremony taking place which precluded us visiting some of the other rooms, learning about the history of Padua University and seeing some of the great historical rooms was amazing.We also visited the ancient medical library (tours need to be arranged beforehand via email with the librarian), where medical books and manuscripts from the 14th century onwards and old medical instruments are kept.

Topcat20

The university provides tours each day which includes the anatomy theatre in which Galeleo performed his lectures.

Mary-Tas

This guided tour was really interesting. It was awesome to touch through the ages of history through visiting this place. Was my favourite place of Padua.

Philconcertgoer

Guided tour is informative and interesting. You visit the 16th century anatomy theatre, sadly so fragile that you only look up from beneath (i.e. the spot formerly occupied by the cadaver!), also the medical school hall and a great lecture hall decorated with the family crests of students who had attended. Also on show is Galileo's lectern, on the face of it a pretty shabby old piece of wood, but the repository of scientific history!

Dezza21

Not a long tour which makes it ideal a 'fill-in' visit. I defy anyone not to be 'taken aback' by the final room that is visited.

randolphb112

The English-language tour is informative and the anatomical theatre is really a must-see for anyone interested in the history of medicine and science.

cazza1024

The university is fascinating and the tour guide that we had was excellent in her knowledge of the history of the university, the famous students that attended and its architecture. The only thing that spoiled it was the terrible jobs worth security guard who took relish in moving people on and telling people off even If they were in a mm of a piece of furniture. Even the guide looked embarrassed by him. Please someone have a word he does not need to be like that.

Monty-eFred

This is where you can visit the world’s first permanent anatomical theatre but you can also see Galileo Galilei's podium! What an overwhelming opportunity this was. This is where the first woman in the world to graduate got her degree in Philosophy. Her name was Elena Lucrezia Cornaro Piscopia and she was from Venice. This was 1678.

JillConnecticut

Inspiring to stand where Galileo, Copernicus, Petrarch and ?Dante studied! Hard to believe it has been in existence that long and now has 60,000 students. Hope they will be able to find jobs when they graduate!