Museo di Palazzo Santo Stefano

Museum in the historic seat of the Province of Padua, with 19th-century rooms and anti-gas and anti-aircraft shelters from the war period.

Opening hours unknown

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About the museum

Palazzo Santo Stefano, in Piazza Antenore, originated around the year 1000 as a Benedictine women's monastery. After the Napoleonic suppressions of 1810 it underwent many alterations and, from 1868, housed the Provincial Administration, the Prefecture and the Prefect's residence.

The most significant 19th-century renovation is the decoration of the Council Chamber, carried out in 1877 by the decorative artist Carlo Matscheg from Belluno and the Venetian painter Giulio Carlini, author of “Cacciata di Pagano” on the ceiling. In the 20th century the building took on its present form, with the Scalone d'onore (grand staircase) designed in 1935 by the architect Angelo Pisani.

During the war an anti-gas shelter from 1934, a tubular anti-aircraft shelter begun in 1943 and a U.N.P.A. anti-aircraft shelter from 1944 were built. Recent work by the Province has made these spaces accessible to visitors.

The museum route has two parts: the first passes through the Scalone d'onore and the ground, first and basement floors, with an information room featuring historical films and archive documents, and with the Sala di Rappresentanza, the Sala Consiliare and the Sala di Giunta; the second runs along Piazza Antenore and Riviera Tito Livio, passes the Tomba di Antenore and the medieval walls and reaches the U.N.P.A. shelter. Guided groups are limited to a maximum of 10 people.

Highlights

Council Chamber decorated in 1877, with “Cacciata di Pagano” by Giulio Carlini
Scalone d'onore from 1935 by Angelo Pisani
Anti-gas shelter and tubular anti-aircraft shelter
U.N.P.A. anti-aircraft shelter from 1944
Tomba di Antenore and medieval walls along the route