Prato della Valle, one of the symbols of Padua, is a large elliptical square which, in addition to being the largest square in the city, is one of the largest in Europe second only to Moscow’s Red Square.
The square is actually a large monumental space characterized by a central green island, called Isola Memmia, in honor of the Podestà who commissioned the work, surrounded by a canal decorated with a double base withstatues of famous characters of the past.
Since ancient times this open space had economic and recreational functions.
In Roman times it was the site of a vast theater, the Zairo, traces of which have been found in the canal that surrounds the Memmia Island and of a circus for horse racing.
