The English in Padua: 1222-1660
Over four centuries the University of Padua attracted a large number of foreign students, writes Alan Haynes, among whom the English were prominent.
Early in the seventeenth century the indomitable traveller William Lithgow wrote of Padua that it was ‘the most melancholy city in Europe’. It is an original and divergent view, although other writers did point out that the city was astoundingly uncrowded at night as Paduans withdrew behind shutters or left for their farms and villas outside the town. The long arcaded streets, offering protection from the weather at least, were left to the students of the ancient university, who thronged through the town, and clashes with a nationalistic bias were not unknown.
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