Park of the Euganean Hills

The Euganean Hills are a group of volcanic hills and shaped as an archipelago in the Po plain at a few kilometres South West from Padua.

Established in 1989, the Euganean Hils are the Veneto Region’s first regional park.

The green lung, or green space, of the spa town of Abano, the Euganean Hills Regional Park offers the opportunity to enjoy cultural visits, sports and food and wine tasting.

We recommend visiting Arquà Petrarca, a small medieval hamlet settled since the Romans Times and chosen by the poet Francesco Petrarca to spend his final years of life. Here, time seems to have stopped to keep intact the magic of the Middle Ages.

During the sixteenth century, Arquà and the Hills were a place of literary pilgrimage and inspired lyrics and peerless pages of the most famous classic books and passionate letters of poets and writers of Romanticism. The beauty of this land also fascinated Ugo Foscolo, who described it in many passages of his book, “Le ultime lettere di Jacopo Ortis”, and Percy Bysshe Shelley, one of the most important English poets.

Visiting the historical library of the Abbey of Praglia, you will feel the mystical atmosphere of a Benedictine monastery. The monastery foundation dates back to the 11^th and 12^th centuries.

Furthermore, we recommend visiting Monselice, a wall town with a wonderful walk to the Seven Little Churches on the Monte della Rocca and the walled towns of Este and Montagnana.

Este stands at the foot of the southern side of Castello Mount and was founded by the Ancient paleo-Venetians close to the Adige River which, in ancient times, flowed here. To be visited: the National Museum of Este, the Carrara Castle, squares and numerous ancient churches with art treasures.

Within its surrounding walls, Montagnana hosts the wonderful cathedral of the late 15^th century, the Museum of the Castles and the “Rocca degli Alberi” and, just beyond of the walls, the Pisani Palace designed by Andrea Palladio. The two kilometres of medieval walls are interrupted by 24 imposing hexagonal towers high up to 19 m, which are the most beautiful monuments of Montagnana, once used for defensive purposes.