Scrovegni Chapel - stay in Padua for night entry, or day trip on barge

I stayed in Padua for two nights. The other main main attraction for me after the Scrovegni Chapel was the Basilica of St. Anthony. I saw the Chapel in the morning. I would recommend doing a day trip from Venice instead of staying the night.

We saw both the Scrovigni Chapel and Bascilica of St. Anthony on an easy day trip by train from Venice. No need to stay overnight although you could. The University of Padua was founded in the 1200s and counts as alumni many of Italy’s noted scholars.

Are you referring to the barge from Venice? We took that but don’t recall an opportunity to visit Scrovegni Chapel.

I visited Padova/Padua as a day trip from Venice in April 2023. It was easy to do. Approx. one hour train. Hint: I found a number of stores and restaurants closed on Sunday. I scheduled my visit to Scrovegni Chapel a few weeks before my visit. I also scheduled an English language tour (it was a group tour) of the University, which I found fascinating. That tour lasts approx. 1 hour; the University is right in the center of town, about a 15 minute walk from the S. Chapel. Rick's Venice book (I think it was) gives a very helpful plan for how to spend one day in Padova as a day trip from Venice. I felt like I saw plenty of Padova in my one long day there and did not regret not spending a night.

We went to the chapel as part of a day trip on our way from Venice to Verona. We had lunch in town, went to the market, wandered around the university area and went to the Scroveigni Chapel in the mid-afternoon. The chapel is quite near the train station. Of course, it has an important place in art history.

We did not make it to the Basilica of St. Anthony. That was farther from the train station than the other venues that we enjoyed and our time was limited to about 4 - 1/2 hours in Padova. Had we spent a night in Padova, we certainly would have taken in the Basilica. But we would have likely skipped Verona. Choices, choices!

In 2019 we drove to Padova from the Verona area, and combined it with a visit to the Villa Rotonda in Vicenza along the way. It wasn't a difficult drive (apart from the construction work going on then around Vicenza). I think it's a little more than an hour's drive one way, and we were back in Verona in time for dinner.

As I recall, Padova is nice enough, but not so filled with attractions to make it worth more than a long afternoon. The Scrovegni Chapel is amazing though...

I spent about 2-1/2 days in Padua in September 2022 and didn't have enough time to do all the wandering I had looked forward to. If you take a look at Rick's guide to Italy, you'll see there are more pages devoted to Padua than to Verona. I think the city is definitely worth two nights and at least one full day, but I like spending time in less-touristy cities. Time needed for a satisfying visit to a city depends on how its sights align with your personal interests.

In 2019, we spent 9 nights in Padua with only two day trips out of the city --- we loved the city, decided we'd love to live there. Plenty to do and see.

However, specifically about the Scrovegni chapel --- it really depends on how much time you want to spend inside the chapel. It's been my favorite work of art for the last 54 years and I did first go to see it that long ago, when you could spend as much time as you wanted inside. Now, you have only 15 minutes unless you do the double nighttime visit --- in 2019 we did both, so got a total of about 50 minutes.

So, if you really want to see everything Giotto painted (even if you are familiar with much of it from books or youtube videos), you kind of have to take the double night tour. I'm pretty sure that even if you booked back-to-back daytime tickets, you would have to leave the chapel after your 15 minutes, line up to go inside again, sit through the video and dehumidifying again (another 15 minutes), and only then get your second 15 minutes inside.

You only need to stay one night in Padua to do the night double tickets plus one daytime ticket, if that's what you want to do.

Two more thoughts. There will be mosquitoes when you are outside waiting to go in. And I decided to save time inside the chapel by not trying to take photos of the frescoes since there are lots of good (actually, better) photos online and in books.

It's normal for Italian cultural sites not to have tickets online far ahead of time.

Many thanks to all who shared their recommendations, it is very helpful.

I think I will wait in till the Scrovegni Chapel admission window opens, looks like that will be April 5 for June 5 admission, and at that point see what admission choices are available. If the double night tour is open we will stay the night and then tour again the following morning. Since we are traveling up from Florence and on to Venice by train it seems we can adjust our train times to suit.

Thanks,

I've been to Padova, and the Scrovegni Chapel, several times. My hotel preference is the Majestic Toscanelli in the old town, a short walk from both the Chapel and St Anthony's. It's reasonably priced and walking around the old town is lovely. There are good restaurants and the two plazas, Piazza delle Erbe and Piazza della Frutta, sell produce and flowers in the morning and in the evening, Piazza delle Erbe becomes a wonderful placs to sit, watch the sunset -- and the people, and have an Aperol Spritz. Venice is an easy 35 minutes or so by train. Be sure to book your tickets to the Scrovegni Chapel before you go.