Este Geography

The town lies at the southern foot of the Euganean Hills, the group of volcanic cones rising abruptly from the Veneto plain south-west of Padua. Behind it the ground climbs into the hills; in front it is entirely flat.

That junction explains the town's shape and its history. Este grew on a branch of the Adige, and when the river shifted course the settlement lost its waterway — which is why the medieval town regrouped under the hill and the castle was built where it was.