Padua Baptistery

Padua Baptistery tickets: which one to buy

The Baptistery of Padua stands beside Padua Cathedral on the Piazza del Duomo in the centre of Padua, in the Veneto region of northern Italy, and a ticket is required. The small building holds one of the most complete fresco cycles of the fourteenth century in Italy, and it is part of the UNESCO World Heritage Site of Padua's fourteenth-century fresco cycles, together with Giotto's Scrovegni Chapel and other buildings in the city. Padua is about half an hour from Venice by train, and the baptistery is a short walk from the lively squares of the old town.

Visitors often combine it with the Scrovegni Chapel, which requires advance booking, the Palazzo della Ragione and its markets on the Piazza delle Erbe and the Piazza dei Frutti, the Basilica of Saint Anthony, the Botanical Garden, the oldest university botanical garden in the world, and the Prato della Valle. Visits are short, and the number of visitors inside at one time may be limited. The baptistery is sometimes open on summer evenings for special visits. A combined ticket for the UNESCO fresco sites, the Padova Urbs Picta card, can include the baptistery.

Visiting Padua Baptistery: what to see

The baptistery was built in the late twelfth century, and it was rebuilt in the thirteenth. In the 1370s it was chosen as the mausoleum of Fina Buzzaccarini, the wife of Francesco I da Carrara, lord of Padua, and she commissioned the Florentine painter Giusto de' Menabuoi to decorate it. Between about 1375 and 1378, Giusto covered the entire interior with frescoes, and they have survived in remarkable condition. The dome shows Paradise, with Christ at the centre surrounded by the Virgin and rings of hundreds of saints and angels, arranged in concentric circles, a dazzling and unforgettable sight.

The drum below the dome shows scenes from the Book of Genesis, from the Creation to the story of Joseph. The walls are covered with scenes from the lives of Christ and Saint John the Baptist, and the apse shows scenes from the Apocalypse. The painter included portraits of the Carrara family and people of Padua among the figures. The polyptych on the altar, also by Giusto, shows the Virgin and saints. Fina Buzzaccarini's tomb was damaged in later centuries, and a portrait of her kneeling before the Virgin can be seen in the frescoes. The building's simple brick exterior gives no hint of the colour inside.

Padua Baptistery opening hours and the best time to go

The baptistery is open daily, and summer opening hours are sometimes extended into the evening. Spring and autumn are the most pleasant seasons in Padua, and summer is hot and humid. Mornings are quieter, before tour groups from Venice arrive. The feast of Saint Anthony on 13 June brings pilgrims to the city. The markets on the nearby squares are busiest in the mornings. Allow about half an hour for the baptistery, and combine it with the cathedral next door and the Scrovegni Chapel.