Padua's origins are very ancient. In the 4th century B.C. it rose from a fishing village to become the most important centre of the Veneto people. Allied with the Romans against the Gauls, it became a Roman Municipium in 45 B.C. and reached a high degree of economic prosperity and great urban development under Augustus. However, the town suffered a mortal blow when the Longobards set fire to it in 602. Recovery was slow. At the beginning of the twelfth century Padua was a free Comune and by the second half of the following century (after the parenthesis of the reign of Ezzelino da Romano) it was spreading its influence well beyond the Communal territory, clashing with the emperor, Arrigo VII, and with the La Scala family (1311-1329). During the long war the Da Carrara family came to the fore and was granted seigneury of the town. (1338-1405). During the thirteenth century and for the whole of the fourteenth century the city went through a period of great cultural and artistic fervour. The first circle of walls was built, followed by the Palazzo della Ragione, the Basilica of St. Anthony and the Church of the Eremitani. The University was founded in 1222; it was the second in Italy and attracted teachers and scholars from all over Europe. Both Dante and Petrarchstayed in Padua. The artistic scene was dominated by Giotto, whose masterpiece is the decoration of the Scrovegni Chapel (1303-1305). Artists such as Guariento, Altichiero and Giusto followed in the wake of the master, creating cycles of frescoes of unparalleled artistry. The enlightened seigneury of the Da Carrara family came to an end in 1405; Padua fell under the dominion of Venice, whose fate it shared until the end. Padua remained a leader in the artistic field at least till the mid fifteenth century, thanks to the presence of Donatello and Mantegna. Padua continued its renewal in the sixteenth century: the new circle of fortified walls was built; the new Town Hall, the Palazzo del Capitanio, the imposing Basilica of S. Giustina and the new Cathedral were also built. The University too knew a period of great splendour, with the Botanic Garden and the Anatomy theatre, the new Palazzo del Bo, where Galileo Galilei taught. During the following three centuries Padua underwent a slow economic decline, reflected in the modesty of private and public buildings. The last great piece of town planning was the rearrangement of Prato della Valle (1775). After the fall of Venice (1797) and the period of Napoleonic rule, Padua passed into Austrian hands (1813) and this situation continued until 1866 when the town was annexed to the kingdom of Italy. Starting from the early years of the twentieth century, a new period of economic growth began, thanks to the development of industry, trade and tertiary services; this trend was strengthened in the period between the two wars and accelerated even more during the last thirty years, thus making Padua the most important managerial pole in North-East Italy.
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