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Padua ( or , (イタリア語:Padova) ) is a city and ''comune'' in the 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 (). 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, west of Venice and 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. Padua is the setting for most of the action in Shakespeare's ''The Taming of the Shrew''. ==Etymology== The original significance of the Roman name ''Patavium'' (, German ''Padua'') is uncertain. It may be connected with the ancient name of the River Po, (''Padus''). Additionally, the root ''pat-'', in the Indo-European language may refer to a wide open plain as opposed to nearby hills. (In Latin this root is present in the word ''patera'' which means "plate." and the verb ''patere'' means "to open.") The suffix ''-av'' (also found in the name of the rivers such as the ''''Timavus'''' and ''Tiliaventum'' is likely of Venetic origin, precisely indicating the presence of a river, which in the case of Padua is the Brenta. The ending ''-ium'', signifies the presence of villages that have united themselves together.〔R. Mambella〕 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Padua」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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