Palazzo del Capitaniato

Flanking the western side of elegant Piazza dei Signori, the Palazzo del Capitaniato became the seat of Venetian authority when Padua came under the control of Venice. The Venetian presence lives on in the statue of the lion of St Mark, which prowls above the building's 16th-century triumphal arch, designed by Giovanni Maria Falconetto and surmounted by Giovanni Dondi's beautiful astronomical clock (tours 9.30am, 10.15am, 11am and 11.45am, Friday and Saturday), created in 1423 and thought to be the first in Italy.