The canal bordered by two rings of statues
Prato della Valle
Padua, May 2025
“Prato della Valle (Prà de ła Vałe in Venetian) is a 90,000-square-meter elliptical square in Padua, Italy. It is the second largest square in Italy and one of the largest in Europe. Today, the square is a large space with a green island at the center, l'Isola Memmia, surrounded by a small canal bordered by two rings of statues. Prior to 1635, the area that would come to be known as the ‘Prato della valle’ was largely a featureless expanse of partially swampy terrain just south of the old city walls of Padova. In 1636, a group of Venetian and Veneto notables financed the construction of a temporary but lavishly appointed theater as a venue for mock battles on horseback. The musical entertainment that served as the prologue to the jousting is considered to be the immediate predecessor of the first public opera performances in Venice, which began the following year.” (Prato della Valle, Wikipedia)
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