Padua (/ˈpædju.ə/ or US /ˈpædʒu.ə/, Italian: Padova [ˈpaːdova]) is a city and comune in Veneto, northern Italy. It is the capital of the province of Padua and the economic and communications hub of the area. Padua's population is 214,000 (as of 2011). The city is sometimes included, with Venice (Italian Venezia) and Treviso, in the Padua-Treviso-Venice Metropolitan Area, having a population of c. 1,600,000.
Padua stands on the Bacchiglione River, 40 kilometres (25 miles) west of Venice and 29 km (18 miles) southeast of Vicenza. The Brenta River, which once ran through the city, still touches the northern districts. Its agricultural setting is the Venetian Plain (Pianura Veneta). To the city's south west lies the Euganaean Hills, praised by Lucan and Martial, Petrarch, Ugo Foscolo, and Shelley.
It hosts the renowned University of Padua, almost 800 years old, and famous, among other things, for having had Galileo Galilei among its lecturers.
The city is picturesque, with a dense network of arcaded streets opening into large communal piazze, and many bridges crossing the various branches of the Bacchiglione, which once surrounded the ancient walls like a moat.
The Province of Padua (Provincia di Padova) is a province in the Veneto region of Italy. Its capital is the city of Padua.
It has an area of 2,142 km², and a total population of 940,090 (2012) making it the most populated province of Veneto. There are 104 comuni in the province.
The territory is usually divided in the capital city, Padua, and its hinterland, formed by the nearby municipalities; the Alta Pianura (higher plain), north of the city; the Bassa Pianura (lower plain), south of the city, including the Saccisica in the south-east; and the Colli Euganei (Euganei hills) south-west of the city. The Euganei hills are the only heights of the entire province, the other parts being totally plain.
The borders of the province are almost the same from the Medieval commune, with just some adjustment in the north-east. The territory was administered within these boundaries since the time of the Republic of Venice, but the modern province comes directly from the administrative divisions of Kingdom of Lombardy-Venetia. The Diocese of Padua covers the most part of the province, out of a main part of Alta Pianura; instead it includes areas from the surrounding provinces.
Former Antonveneta Padova is a professional Volleyball team of Pallavolo Padova (till 1999 Petrarca Volley, till 2009 Sempre Volley), based in Padua, Italy. It plays in Italian Volleyball League. Since 2009 it is named Pallavolo Padova and it plays Serie A2, after relegation from Serie A1 in 2012. It won a CEV Cup in 1994.
A plaza /ˈplɑːzə/ is an open urban public space, such as a city square.
Throughout Spanish America and the Spanish East Indies, the plaza mayor of each center of administration held three closely related institutions: the cathedral, the cabildo or administrative center, which might be incorporated in a wing of a governor's palace, and the audiencia or law court. The plaza might be large enough to serve as a military parade ground. At times of crisis or fiesta, it was the space where a large crowd might gather. Like the Italian piazza, the plaza remains a center of community life that is only equaled by the market-place.
Most colonial cities in Spanish America and the Philippines were planned around a square plaza de armas, where troops could be mustered, as the name implies, surrounded by the governor's palace and the main church. A plaza de toros is a bullring.
In modern usage, a plaza can be any gathering place on a street or between buildings, a street intersection with a statue, etc. Today's metropolitan landscapes often incorporate the "plaza" as a design element, or as an outcome of zoning regulations, building budgetary constraints, and the like. Sociologist William H. Whyte conducted an extensive study of plazas in New York City: his study humanized the way modern urban plazas are conceptualized, and helped usher in significant design changes in the making of plazas.
Plaza is a surname. Notable people with the surname include:
Plaza is a Spanish word for a city square; it may more specifically refer to: