Este

At the southern foot of the Euganean Hills, Este gave a dynasty its name and Europe one of its oldest urban civilisations. A castle with a kilometre of walls, a national museum of the ancient Veneti, and a cathedral guarding Tiepolo’s monumental altarpiece make this Euganean town an essential, still-quiet counterweight to Padua.

Why visit

Este rewards the traveller who reads landscapes in layers. Two thousand years before the Medici, the Veneti people forged a culture here so distinctive that archaeologists call it Atestine, and the national museum displays its bronze situlae and incised vessels with pride. Above the town the Carrarese castle spreads nearly a kilometre of wall around gardens that were once a fortress, while the streets below carry the memory of the House of Este before it moved to Ferrara, Modena and beyond. Giambattista Tiepolo’s immense altarpiece of 1759, painted for the cathedral and ranked among his masterpieces of religious art, hangs at the end of a single day’s circuit. Add the Piazza Maggiore’s arcades, the Euganean wine roads at the doorstep, and a pace untouched by coach tourism, and Este becomes one of the Veneto’s most satisfying small cities. Its festival seasons and its white Serprino vineyards give every month a reason.

Character and history

The town descends from ancient Ateste, the Venetic settlement whose crafted bronzes travelled the ancient world and whose alphabet still puzzles epigraphers. The medieval lords who built their fortress here took the name Este with them; when the family’s main line transferred to Ferrara in the thirteenth century, the town passed to the Carraresi of Padua, who rebuilt the castle in its present form from 1339 under Ubertino da Carrara after earlier destructions by Ezzelino da Romano and the Paduans themselves. The fortress guarded the southern gate of the Euganean hills, its walls lapping the hill’s foot; a Mocenigo palace rose inside after the Venetian acquisition, and the commune bought the complex in 1887, opening the gardens. The plague of 1630-31, which killed thousands of the town’s people, became the subject of the cathedral’s great commission: Santa Tecla interceding before the Eternal Father, painted by Giambattista Tiepolo in 1759 on a canvas of nearly twenty-seven square metres. The parish of San Martino, Este’s oldest religious foundation, survives as a romanesque-gothic church with a leaning tower on Via Principe Umberto.

What to see

The fortress ensemble comes first: the Carrarese Castle and Public Park (Este), whose walls enclose tree-lined gardens, and its Towers of the Carrarese Castle (Mastio and Soccorso Towers), climbable on guided visits for views across the plain. Within the palace inside the walls, the National Atestino Archaeological Museum narrates the ancient Veneti from prehistory through the Roman age, the definitive collection of Atestine civilisation. The religious circuit follows: the Cathedral of Santa Tecla (Este Duomo) with the Tiepolo altarpiece, the minor Basilica of Santa Maria delle Grazie (Este) preserving its venerable sacred image, the Monumental Complex of San Francesco (Este) holding the tombs of Este’s lords, the oldest surviving church of San Martino with its leaning bell tower, and the Church of the Beata Vergine della Salute (Este) on the devotional circuit. Between monuments, the arcaded Piazza Maggiore (Este) carries the civic life, watched over by the 12th-century Torre Civica (Civic Clock Tower, Este) with its lunar-phase clock.

How to experience

Climb to the castle gardens in the early morning, walk the wall corridor where it is open, then take the guided tower visit when the day clears for the Euganean panorama. Give the Atestino museum a full hour, and let a docent explain the situla art that made Ateste famous. In the late afternoon stand before the Tiepolo as the light comes through the apse, then join the passeggiata on Piazza Maggiore with a glass of Serprino from the surrounding Colli Euganei. Time a visit for the Palio or the festival season if you want the town at its most theatrical, or for a quiet weekday in autumn when the museums are yours. Cyclists can follow the Euganean ring road between Este, Arquà Petrarca and the villas of the hills.

Practical planning

Este lies about half an hour southwest of Padua by car or bus, with the A13 and regional rail via Monselice as alternatives. The centre is compact; park near the castle or piazza. The Atestino museum follows state museum schedules with weekly closing and occasional evening openings, and the castle towers open on guided-visit days only, so check ahead. Sunday mornings are lively on the piazza; August can be hot in the plain. Comfortable shoes and a bottle of water serve well on the wall walk.

Nearby places

Cittadella, the walled town of the Paduan plain, lies to the north; Montagnana with its intact walls is further southwest; and Arquà Petrarca, the Petrarch village on the Euganean ridge, sits within a short drive.