Palazzo Bo

Palazzo Bo has been the seat of the University of Padua since 1493, and it contains the oldest permanent anatomical theatre in the world, built in 1594. Galileo lectured in this building for eighteen years. It is visitable only by guided tour, which is why most visitors to Padua walk past it without realising what it is.

This is a working university, not a museum with students in it. Tours move through corridors where people are teaching and working, and the guide's pace is set by that.

The anatomical theatre is a fragile 400-year-old wooden structure with strict limits on group size and no photography in some sessions -- the restrictions are structural as much as curatorial.

Graduation ceremonies are family occasions happening in a public courtyard. Watching from the edge is normal; photographing strangers' families closely is not.

Access is by guided tour only, in fixed slots, and tours sell out -- book ahead rather than turning up. Tours run in Italian and English and last roughly 45 minutes, covering the courtyard, the anatomical theatre and the Aula Magna. The building is in the ZTL; it is a fifteen-minute walk from the railway station.