In preparation for our trip, I asked Andie to give me the contact information of her cousin in Italy because, if possible, I wanted to arrange meeting her during our time in Italy. I wrote Judilka an email to introduce myself and started a correspondence about the possibility of stopping by to meet her and her family. I found out they live in Padova and I added a stop to our itinerary. Padova is Padua in Spanish and in English.
Padova is located in northern Italy about 30 minutes west of Venice. We took the train to Padova to meet Judilka, her husband Giorgio, and their son Isack who is almost a year old. Judilka met us close to the train station; she came with sweet baby Isack in the stroller. We had a grand tour of Padova with our own personal tour guide as we exchanged information on our own lives. There was so much to talk about it, our backgrounds, lives, Andrea and Hugo's immigration to America and so little time. It was like when you meet and old friend that you haven't seen in years and want to get caught up on each other's life. It's always exhilarating when you meet new people and you already have some information on their past and their background. Judilka was as sweet as a peach and treated us like she knew us. Her baby son was a bundle of joy and he never cried during our time together. He was always smiling and when it was time to eat or sleep he didn't waste any time. We were lucky that she is multilingual and was able to speak to us in English so Ed could participate, even though she and I tried to sneak a few conversations in Spanish.
It was a cold and sunny day. We walked the streets with little Isack in his stroller and got to see many sites as we learned a lot about Padova's history. It's the home of the University of Padova which is a very prestigious university funded in 1222 and was the school for Galileo, Copernicus, Dante and Petrach. Then in the XXI century intellectuals and science lovers like Giorgio and Judilka. Padova has been nicknamed the "brain of Veneto" referring to the province of Veneto as this school broke from the traditional curriculum including the Catholic constraints and open up to people of all faifhs attracting intellectuals from all Europe. Like any other school town, the city is vibrant with the students on the streets, caffes and parks. Padova, like most Italian old towns, has narrow streets, cobblestoned paveways, buildings with marble columns and highly decorated facades with balconies, columns, and arched windows.
The university main building is the old Palazzo Bo adjacent to Caffe Pedrocchio.
The code of arms represent the prestigious families that were admitted to the University.
Caffe Pedrocchio below, with its white column building, is more than a coffee shop. There are three coffee and dining areas each one decorated with one color of the italian flag. The "Sala Verde" Green Room welcomes people to come in and sit down without ordering anything. People come to this room to read the paper, meet friends, students gather to talk or write papers, and there is no time limit. The "Sala Rossa" Red Room has a big clock; it was open 24 hours in the 19th century and the clock was signature of the room. The "Sala Bianca" White Room still shows a hole in the wall (framed). It's a reminder where one of the insurgents was killed in the 1800's. Caffe Pedrocchio is an historical building with elegant settings. It was used by dignitaries then and probably now, too.
We continued the tour on the streets of Padova and found the historical Piazza dei Signori surrounded by historical buildings. Its in this piazza that the fresh market for herbs, fruits and vegetables is held every morning. It's left like nothing happened after all merchants are gone.
One of the surrounding buildings of this Piazza is "Palazzo della Ragioni," The Palace of Reason.. in today's terms it is the Court House. The legend says that people that were going to be judged preferred to consent to guilt without being guilty to avoid the torture that went on. Can we call it reason?
As we continued to wander the piazza we decided to stop for lunch in one of the restaurants below the Palazzo Della Ragioni. Judilka ordered a Proseco for me, the typical aperitivo in Italy and baguette sandwichs made to order for each of us, molto Italiano. You tell the person making your sandwhich how much bread, type of meat, cheese and anything else. Sizes are not set, nor is the prize.
I love the overall architecture with arches, balconies and atriums. No matter what the temperature is, Europeans love to sit outdoors for coffee or a meal.
There is no town in Europe without art and we found this hall by the university displaying a very colorful collage of art right on the walls.
Check the picture above and below to follow my story....it's interesting! The building in the back has a large Circa 1400 clock; it was the former palace of the ruling family.
The two small blue circles at the top mark the time, hour in the left and minutes on the right, 3:55pm, The two blue circles at the bottom marked the day and month - all digitally! 5 March. Remember Europeans, and South and Central America for that matter, call the day first, then the month. The needles...I don't know....you may want to help me guess what it means. Legend tells that the person that was commissioned to design it didn't get paid, so as a revenge he left off the zodiac symbol of this person on the design. Please note that there are only 11 zodiac signs, Scorpion takes two spaces. Must be true!
We continued to stroll the streets, this time we headed down to see the Basilica of St. Anthony. On the way there we passed another famous huge piazza-park like named Pratto della Valle. It is an oval shaped piazza with fountains, walkways, dozens of statues of Padua's eminent citizens and grass. It's used for special events and festivals or simply to gather or take a break enjoying the scenery.
A view from the opposite side shows the Basilica of St. Anthony in the back. You can also see Ed walking back after taking his mandatory pictures.
We arrived at the impressive St. Anthony church. Like in all churches in Italy, visiting is free. The difference here is that no pictures were allowed inside.
Ed sneaked the picture below, and soon he was reminded that no pictures allowed.
There is a section in the church where the tomb of St. Anthony, and many others who wanted to be buried closed to him, are held and some of Anthony's body parts are displayed as relics. Body parts? Yes...his tongue and his jaw are displayed. St. Anthony is known as a powerful speaker, a miracle worker and the finder of lost articles with a strong faith in Christ. History tells that his tongue and jaw didn't disintegrate as dust like the rest of his body and many attributed this to his powerful messages. Eventhough he was born in Lisbon, he joined the Poor Franciscans and moved to Italy at the age of 25 and dedicated his life to Christ and his teachings.
On the right side of the church there is a section called The Cloisters that in the center has an enormous magnolia tree that was imported from America at the end of the 17th century.
The sun is setting and its time to meet Giorgio, we went to have a drink and appetizers at a bar located in front of Pratto Della Valle. I had a "Spritz" the drinking of choice in town and Judilka ordered a feast of appetizers. One of them was sardines which are very popular in Italy. Giorgio arrived and he was also fluent in English and considered himself lucky again. We centered the conversation on their backgrounds and jobs, in many instances I barely grasped. We were talking to two research scientists working in nuclear physics and the accelerators ......Ed was holding the conversation for both of us. There were times I wish I had a more broad knowledge and this was one of them. We left this place and headed down to a very famous Antica Osteria dal Capo that had on the door many awards for their food, year after year. We were welcome like they knew us. We found out Judilka and Giorgio were regulars before Isack was born. The owners speak Spanish as they are from Peru and our waitress was from Cuba, but they all spoke italian. Very unusual to find Hispanics in this part of the world. Again, more appetizers and we ordered the special..."fish soup". It truly was delicious and we had a superb evening together.
We talked about their school years in Italy, how they meet, their wedding, the baby and their current life. They are a fascinating couple with brilliant careers and a growing a family. (Ed's red jacket didn't skip above picture).
It was time to go and we started walking towards the train station. There was a train leaving in a few minutes and we rushed to buy tickets and boarded on time. Giorgio, Judilka and baby Isack were with us until the last minute and Giorgio surprised us with a huge paper bag he handed as we said ciao. It was a beautiful almond cake shaped as a cross. We ate it for the next few days. Some told us that these are given on special occasions and they represent good luck. Not sure if this is true of not, but we considered ourselves very lucky meeting Giorgio, Judilka and baby Isack. Andrea and Hugo would be very happy we met them too. I think we have new friends and great memories for life!!! We are very thankful they made time for us while we visited Italy and we hope they will visit us here in the states. Now, I have a strong desire to learn italian, time will tell if I persuade it.
Ciao!!! Arrivederci!!!
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