We don't have much time in Venice, but given the fact that you can get a 15 minute train to Padua and the Scrovegni Chapel is a five minute walk from the station...is this worth it?
I've heard the Giotto frescoes are amazing and represent really groundbreaking art for their time.
I would skip Padova if you have 3 or less days in Venice. I like Padova. The produce market is great, I like seeing St. Anthony and the college town feel, but the Scrovengi Chapel was a bit of a let down. I think any art museume in Venice will outshine the Chapel.
Depends on how much of an art lover you are. Having seen them, I recommend you do it. The only negative is that I've heard that you now get to stay only 15 or 20 minutes in the chapel. In that case, you could also visit the baptistry of the duomo and view the frescoes of Menabuoi. That will put you in a historic area where you can get a feel for the city. Two caveats: Be sure to get advance reservations for the Scrovegni, and the ride from Venice is more like 40 minutes than 15.
I agree with everything Rosalyn said. Advance prepaid reservations are required, using either a phone # or the easier website book the Scrovegni frescoes here. Rick advises you book and prepay for Scrovegni well in advance of your visit.The way it works in the Chapel is: about 25 are admitted at 15-minute intervals, you get 15 minutes with the frescoes. Walking into the Chapel with the frescoes is an overwhelming experience. Giotto has been called the founder of Western painting, and some art historians call the Scrovegni frescoes Giotto's finest surviving work. It takes 30 minutes from Venice S.M. station to Padova (Italian spelling) station, add for time to get to the Venice station & wait for train. It's about 500 meters from the train station to the Chapel, should be a 5 to 10 minute walk. Some travelers don't limit themselves to the Giotto frescoes and do Rick's entire 4-hour blitz tour, described in his book Venice, chapter called Day Trips from Venice.
I think a traveler's personal reaction to the Giotto frescoes of the Scrovegni Chapel depends on her/his prior expectations and level of interest in art history.Art historians have said the frescoes are one of the masterpieces in the development of Western art. They were done around 1305 - 1310! At the time they were done no one (arguably) had conveyed emotional intensity or empathy (in painting) in the way Giotto did. He was a hundred years before Masaccio and Donatello. Today it's easy to take the style for granted--but (it's my understanding that) Giotto was the first to do it.It has been said that a measure of artistic genius is the artist who is the first to do something that subsequently takes art in a new direction. For these reasons, some consider it a privilege to be in the same room with the creations of a genius. Others don't, it's a matter of what the traveler finds interesting and a matter of personal preference.here's the link with more info
Oh yes! do go see them! so easy and so worth it!
Thanks for the advice everyone. I think I'm going to check it out. I love art and art history, so perhaps it is a no brainer for me. Like Kent said, it might be easy to take it for granted in the wake of later works like the Sistine Chapel and so forth... For me, I will be looking at it in the context of when it was done. And I think (or at least I HOPE) I will be able to feel that same sense of wonder.
Also, there really is a 15 minute version of the train from Venice to Padua, according to Rail Europe and some other sites. It must be the fast train. It's a little more expensive, but it apparently takes 15 minutes, while others take 30-40.
Ben: With your interest in art history, I think you'll be glad you did. He did the frescoes about 1305, I think it was--that's what blows you away, a hundred years before Massacio and Donatello! I'm not aware that anyone was painting that kind of emotional intensity into faces, before Giotto. Just to clarify the train time, I think you'll find that the 15 min trains depart from "Venice" Mestre station, which is not really in Venice but rather on the mainland, on the west side of the causeway. People sleeping in Venice, instead of the mainland, get on the train at the regular Venice station, which is Venice Santa Lucia. You mentioned the Rail Europe site, it will show that the trains from Venice Santa Lucia take roughly 30 mins.
Thanks a bunch for clearing that up Kent. I would like to think I would have eventually caught that, but I don't really think I would have! I may have gotten tickets for the wrong train! So thank you very much.
And by the way, 30 minutes still isn't too bad, in my opinion. It's still one of those things where I'm like, "Will I regret not seeing the Scrovegni Chapel if I'm just 40 minutes away (train + walk) instead of thousands of miles away, like I normally am?" Ha ha. I'm leaning toward seeing it now.
