Lively and exciting
In Roman times, this area northeast of here was occupied by the Zairo, a theatre dating back to the period of Augustus with capacity for 6,400 spectators. During the Middle Ages, religious theatrical performances were held here. However, part of the land - which belonged to the nearby Benedictine abbey of St Justina - had become marshy and unhealthy, and as the moanstery had no sanitation works of its own, it gave the land to the Ventian Senate. In 1775, this square was founded. Most of the 78 statues represent famous people from the civic and cultural history of Padua, from students to poets.