palace of law (palazzo della ragione)

Entry was free to this place with a PadovaCard, so we popped in to have a quick look. Wow.The outside of the building is large and fairly impressive, but it didn't prepare me for the amazing interior. The frescoes around the absolutely enormous room are stunning and fascinating to spend time looking at. The whole vast emptiness of the room was made even more amazing by the incredible huge HUGE wooden horse that was built in the 1400s (or therebouts). It is just stunning. It was once used in a pageant about the Trojan Horse and dozens of men hid inside its body, just like in the story. It's brilliant that it has survived for hundreds of years.The frescoes painted around the room depict scenes from the 12 months of the year, and include painting of the relevent star signs, saints, tasks that were undertaken in each of those months by tradesmen etc, and animal symbols associated with those months. It is amazing, and good fun seeking out your own birth month to look at the associated paintings. I loved it.There were only two or three other people in the room when we visited (early February) and so I assume most visitors had simply not realised how amazing it was up there. There was a large TV screen with a keyboard, so you could click on it to get short films about the history of the building (In various languages) and about the frescoes and the wooden horse. They helped understanding of the contents & building and were well worth seeing. (although whoever translated the script was clearly not a native English speaker as some of the sentences are a bit bewildering, even though delivered by and English speaking actor).All in all if you are interested in old buildings, big wooden horses, art or just awesome spaces, then don't miss going up the outside steps of the buliding to experience this wonderful room.

the outside may remind some of Cracow, as it did for me. But the lower part is still the market place with food market where you will see the great produces and products of Italy! I can only also recommend to visit the upper part of the Palace, which is made of a huge room, with walls covered of frescoes. It also hosts the wooden horse once attributed (wrongly) to Donatello.

Charming like all Padova :) We have went there while visiting historical center of Padova. The atmosphere there is ,stylish Italian" . Very nice place

On a scale of 10, I would give it a 6. The architecture of the hall is different enough that should not miss it if you are in town. The market is as large as you would expect in a town of Padua's size, but has nothing to distinguish it from other such market places. We bought some excellent meats and cheeses.

Morning market in front of the Palazzo! Nice architecture, nice details, may be difficult to take some photos with the Market. And you have to check your clock if you want to have some sun on it for a better shot..Afternoon wouldn't be good. We didn't go inside.Just have it on your walking tour!

Worth a trip as quite a low cost to get in. Can't believe the size of the court with a great ceiling looking like an upturned boat. Could have put some more chairs out but were setting up for a tourism exhibition so may have been why.

interesting architecture overlooking the two street markets on either side. Inside, an enormous hall with some huge works of art.

The exterior of the palace was Beautiful. But the fee to go inside was exhorbitant for a family of 4 (about $60), and it is just one huge room, unfurnished (but there was a temporary modern architecture exhibit inside). Nice frescoes but not work the ridiculous fee to see them!! Wish I'd known to skip this one.

The huge open room on the top floor is filled with hundreds of frescoes showing both religious and daily life. One end of the room holds a gigantic horse and at the other end swings a Foucault pendulum. But downstairs is the real treat...the corridors are filled with shops containing colorful dried pastas, fresh fish, salamis and cheeses...a feast for the mouth and the eyes!

A huge building with impressive roof - for once not built as a church, but to have space for the legal procedures of medieval times. Let them explain to you!

The hall is amazing! Huge, but completely covered in medieval frescoes, including many astrological and allegorical motifs. It's fascinating to follow the cycle round the room and try to identify what each picture relates too. I'm afraid I wasn't a fan of having an exhibition of modern architecture in the middle of all this, as it detracted from the overall view of the decoration, and the sheer scale, including the horse! It wasn't clear where you were allowed to 'wander' beyond the 'Salon' - it's still a working town hall - so we gave up after nosing around a courtyard. Shame if we missed something!

There was an incredible exhibit of the works of architect Renzo Piano when we went, inside the Palazzo della Regione. The old building filled with Renzo's modern stuff was fantastic. Don't miss the enormous sculpture of a horse inside.

You can't believe that someone so many time ago was able to built something so awesome!!!It was a Law Court from which the name:"Palazzo della Ragione"Palace of the reason….

Head to this spot in the historic center of the city not only to admire the building and art, but to visit one of the best food markets in Italy. The Palazzo della Ragione house several arcades of food markets, flanked by the two outdoor markets -- Piazza delle Erbe and Pazza dei Frutti -- offering the finest fruits, vegetables, meats, and cheeses you'll ever see. A visit will make you want to rent an apartment in Padova just to shop here and cook your meals from what you buy at the market.

Rich in History , this building is beautiful with wonderful frescoes , and an enormous horse inside . Its a true treasure of Padova , a must see and thing to do.