Arquà Petrarca, a medieval village on the slopes of the Euganean Hills and in the province of Padua, sees its original name, Arquà, modified in 1868 in Arquà Petrarca, in homage to the poet who chose the place to live there. The sites and monuments of historical and cultural interest that the village contains, combined with the charm and quiet that conquered the poet Francesco Petrarca, have allowed the village to be included in the prestigious panel of the “Most Beautiful Villages of Italy“. The examples of artistic excellence are different, starting with Palazzo Contarini, in Venetian Gothic style, overlooking Piazza Roma as well as looking on the square is the church of S. Maria Assunta, inside which is kept the valuable canvas of Ascension, by Palma il Giovane. In the adjacent churchyard, there is the tomb of the Poet, an ark in red Verona marble which still contains the remains of Petrarch. From Piazza Roma we arrive in the nearby Piazza San Marco, the setting of the Oratory of the Holy Trinity – Petrarch used to go there to pray – containing a seventeenth-century wooden altar and another altarpiece by Palma il Giovane. Annexed to the Oratory is the Loggia dei Vicari, decorated with the coat of arms of the noble Paduan rectors. Near the Oratory there is the house of Petrarca, home of the poet since 1369, when he moved to Arquà: immersed in a garden, the building preserves a series of historical relics and works that belonged to the poet. The current museum layout includes several sections, for example “Iconography of Petrarch and Laura”, “Arquà and the surrounding area”, “The tomb of Petrarch”, “The myth of the House: the visitors’ registers”. Still art on the streets of the village, with Casa Strozzi, Villa Rova – typical example of a Venetian villa of the fifteenth century -, Villa Centanin – with a permanent exhibition of ancient pianos – and Villa Alessi, venue for concerts. And there are numerous historical re-enactments of the village of Arquà Petrarca, to be combined with the discovery of the locality and its mosaic of historical, artistic and literary attractions.
