Arquà Petrarca

Arquà Petrarca
Country	Italy
region	Veneto
province	Padua  (PD)
Local name	Arquà Petrarca
Coordinates	45 ° 16 '  N , 11 ° 43'  E Coordinates: 45 ° 16 '0 "  N , 11 ° 43' 0"  E
surface	12 km²
Residents	1,842 (Dec. 31, 2019)
Population density	154 inhabitants / km²
Post Code	35032
prefix	0429
ISTAT number	028005
Popular name	Arquatesi
Website	Arquà Petrarca

Arquà Petrarca [arˈkwa peˈtrarka] (originally Arquà ) is an Italian municipality southwest of Padua between Padua and Ferrara near the ancient Via Adriatica with 1842 inhabitants (as of December 31, 2019) and is a member of the I borghi più belli d'Italia association (The most beautiful places in Italy).

The place is located in the Colli Euganei and can be reached via the Monselice motorway exit . In honor of the great humanist and poet Francesco Petrarca , who spent the last four years of his life (1370-1374) there and is buried, it has been adorned with his surname as an addition since 1870.

history

Archaeological excavations have shown that the area on Lago della Costa , a small lake at the foot of Monte Ricco, about 2 km from the town center, was already inhabited in the Bronze Age. A pile dwelling settlement and necropolis of the pre-Roman population - attributed to the so-called Euganeans - was found here at the end of the 19th century .

In Roman times under Emperor Augustus , Arquatum belonged to Region X Regio Venetia et Histria (10th Region Veneto and Istien).

In a document from 985, on the hill, which is now called Monte Castello, there is a fortress (castrum) inhabited by Rodolfo Normanno . This fort, originally a fief of the Estonians , was set on fire and destroyed in the war between the Carraresi and Scaligians in 1322 .

Two town centers with two Pievi developed below the hill , one in a higher position with a Trinity Church ( SS. Trinità ) and a second further down around the Church of the Assumption of Mary (S. Maria Assunta). This structure can still be seen clearly today and divides the core town into two parts, one di Sopra (above) and one di Sotto (below).

In 1213 the place passed from the Este to the Free City of Padua ; it became the seat of the mayor and vicariate. This remained so when Padua lost its independence in 1405 and belonged to the Republic of Venice , in whose rule Arquà remained until 1797 ( Napoleonic conquest). Petrarch's retirement home, reminiscent of the poet, was a popular residence among the Venetian Renaissance noble families; the Contarini , Badoer, Cavalli, Pisani, Capodivacca, Sambonifacio, Santonini, Borromeo , Dottori, Oddo and Zabarella built villas, some of which are still preserved today.

In 1866, when Venice was annexed to the Republic of Italy, Arquà became an independent municipality; this only received the addition "Petrarca".

Today, the place lives from tourism, which takes place in the course of a documentation of the life and work of Petrarch in a museum at his old residence ( Casa Petrarca ), the restoration of the entire town center and its cultural assets, the establishment of bars and restaurants and the sale of regional agricultural products ( Wine, olive oil, grappa). A specialty of the place is also the giuggiola (breast berry or jujube ), from which numerous products such as jams, pastries or schnapps are made in Arquà Petrarca. The “Festa delle Giuggiole” takes place in autumn.

Sights in the upper town center

The site around the Trinity Church

View of the lower town center of Arquà Petrarca with the church of Santa Maria Assunta

The heart of the upper town center is the piazza on the Trinity Oratory ( Santissima Trinità ), first mentioned in 1181 . This single-nave church interior, which was extended in the 14th century, was painted with frescoes, only a few of which have survived. In addition, it is equipped with baroque altarpieces, u. a. a representation of the Trinity with the Saints Margaret, Lucia and Francis, an old work by Palma il Giovane .

Connected to the Trinity Church is the Loggia dei Vicari (14th century). The vicar called meetings under its arcades. In front of the loggia there is a column with the Venetian Lion of St. Mark , which Vicar Girolamo Bonmartini had erected in 1612 to document the vicariate's loyalty to the Republic of Venice.

In the side streets, the characteristic houses made of trachyte , simply and solidly built, but with recurring architectural details (gate, loggia, flower-adorned entrances and balconies, rustic chimneys), give the upper town center a closed appearance.

Casa Petrarca

One of these houses in Via Valleselle is the Casa Petrarca with an outside staircase and loggia bay window on the upper floor, surrounded by a small garden in which the poet grew wine, apples and spices. Today box trees, oleanders, pines, laurel trees, olives and cherry trees grow there. The house was given to Petrarch by Francesco il Vecchio da Carrara, who was then the city ruler of Padua. He lived with his family on the basement floor and reserved the upper floor for his servants.

The condition in which the visitor finds the old residence of Petrarch today goes back to a subsequent owner from the 16th century, the nobleman Pietro Paolo Valdezocco (living here 1546–1556). He had the upper floor painted with frescoes referring to the main works of the poet, Canzoniere , Trionfi and Africa . Together with Petrarch's armchair and bookcase, these rooms can now be viewed as a museum reminiscent of Petrarch.

The lower rooms have been occupied since 1985 by a permanent photo exhibition on the art and culture of the city of Padua. A curiosity is a mummified cat in a baroque niche, including an inscription that says that the cat believes it was Petrarch's great love, the faithful guardian who protected his garden from mice. Investigations have shown that it cannot be Petrarch's cat, but that the mummy dates from the 17th century, so that the former owner Girolamo Gabrielli probably walled the animal there.

Sights in the lower town center

The heart of this district is the church of Santa Maria Assunta with its central piazza, which was a cemetery until the 19th century. In 1965 the square was laid out with trachyte slabs in order to create a new environment for Petrarch's sarcophagus, which is the only visible tomb for today's visitors to this cemetery.

The lower part of the village is more open than the upper part; a number of historical buildings have been preserved here.

Santa Maria Assunta / Petrarch's Tomb

The parish church was first mentioned in 1026 and has been redesigned several times over the centuries. The neo-Romanesque complex that presents itself to today's visitor dates from 1926.

During restoration work on the inside, frescoes from various eras that had been whitewashed were only found in the 20th century. The oldest in the Byzantine style (Madonna and Child Enthroned) are dated to the 13th century, further frescoes are attributed to the Giotto School (St. Martha, Maria Magdalena and St. Lucia), and the younger ones (again Mary with Child) are not allowed to go before originated in the 15th century. A polyptichon made of panels with a gold background, attached to the right outer wall , depicting St. Augustine, Peter and Paul and other saints, originally comes from SS. Trinità and was created by Jacopo Bonomo , a student of Lorenzo Veneziano , in the 14th century.

Petrarch's funeral took place in the church on July 24, 1374. The shape of the sarcophagus is designed in the style of Roman models and bears two inscriptions. In 1547 Pietro Valdezocco had a bronze bust of the poet placed on the sarcophagus. Today you can see this original bust in the Casa Petrarca and a copy on the sarcophagus. In 1630, grave robbers broke open the sarcophagus and stole parts of the skeleton. In the 19th century, the tomb was opened three times to reassemble bones and conduct research. The last time the grave was opened in 2004 it was recognized that the skull is wrong, it apparently belongs to a woman, but the bones, moreover, are very likely to be the remains of Francesco Petrarch.

Villas, palaces and historical buildings

• In front of the so-called fountain of Petrarch below the church square (from which, according to the inscription, the poet drank) stands the Villa Rova with the coat of arms of the Pisani (lion on hind legs), surrounded by a garden with a private oratory.
• The Palazzo Contarini with its Venetian clover-leaf double and triple arcades has been redesigned several times.
• The palace opposite belonged to the Florentine Strozzi family (restored in 1926)
• The Palazzo Vettorato (14th century) has the same Gothic style elements.
• The Ospedale della Madonna on Via Jacopo d'Arquà, which leads to the upper part of the village, was a hospice for beggars and poor pilgrims. On the facade there is a niche with a crucifixion fresco (only rudimentary preserved).
• A centuries-old vine grows at the historic Osteria del Guerriero inn (15th century).
• The archaeologist Isidoro Alessi lived in the Casa Alessi . Paduan bishops stayed here several times (restored in 1789).
• The Casa Mentasti was the residence of Epographikers Carlo Leoni (remodeled Neo-Gothic).

Parish partnership

Arquà Petrarca maintains a partnership with the French community Fontaine-de-Vaucluse , in which Petrarca also lived for a while.

literature

• Luigi Montobbio: Arquà Petrarca. History and culture. Deganello-Francisci Publishing House, Padua / Abano Terme 1998.

Web links

Commons : Arquà Petrarca  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Statistiche demografiche ISTAT. Monthly population statistics of the Istituto Nazionale di Statistica , as of December 31 of 2019.
2. ^ I borghi più belli d'Italia. Borghipiubelliditalia.it, accessed August 4, 2017 (Italian). 
3. ↑ Website of the municipality of Arquà Petrarca ( Memento of November 4, 2008 in the Internet Archive )