Padua turned a swampy, largely unused stretch of ground into a theater for equestrian mock battles in 1636, then remade it entirely in 1775 under Andrea Memmo into the civic square that survives today.
An elliptical canal, spanned by four bridges, rings the central Isola Memmia and is itself lined by two rows of statues, honoring poets, scholars and statesmen connected to Padua; of an originally planned 88, 78 still stand, carved from Vicenza stone between 1775 and 1883. At roughly 90,000 square meters it ranks among Europe's largest squares, though sources differ on whether it is the largest or second largest in Italy. Markets, student gatherings and evening strolls now fill the same ground that once staged horse races.
