TRAVEL Savoring the best 15 minutes in art history Giotto’s masterpieces shine in Padua’s Scrovegni Chapel. By Patricia Harris and David Lyon Globe correspondents, Updated July 27, 2023, 10:00 ...

by Rick Steves, February 22, 2024 | Padua's museums and churches hold their own in Italy's artistic big league, its hotels are reasonably priced, and the city doesn't feel touristy.

But it features a set of large drawings based on one of the proto-Renaissance painter’s masterpieces, the interior of Padua’s Scrovegni Chapel.

Long an admirer of Giotto’s fresco cycle in the Scrovegni Chapel in Padua, Stanley Spencer had hoped to do something similar. Photo: National Trust Images/A C Cooper ...

Giotto placed real people in real scenes, expressing real human emotions. To protect the paintings from excess humidity, only 25 people are allowed inside the chapel at a time.

The chapel was commissioned in 1303 by Enrico Scrovegni, who, some say, had it built to atone for the sins of his father, an infamous usurer. Giotto under wraps ...

On the opposite side of town is the glorious, renovated Scrovegni Chapel. It’s wallpapered with Giotto’s beautifully preserved cycle of nearly 40 frescoes depicting the lives of Jesus and Mary.

A Padua city councillor, Andrea Colasio said there was no risk to the frescoes. "The council has done all that it could have to guarantee the protection of the chapel," he said.

Giotto painted 38 frescoes focusing on the life of the Virgin Mary for the interior of the Scrovegni Chapel in Padua, Italy. Six served as the inspiration for Matthew Mann's "Cinecitta Chapel" cycle.

Giotto placed real people in real scenes, expressing real human emotions. To protect the paintings from excess humidity, only 25 people are allowed inside the chapel at a time.

The chapel was commissioned in 1303 by Enrico Scrovegni, who, some say, had it built to atone for the sins of his father, an infamous usurer. Giotto under wraps ...