1. Introduction

The construction of the Basilica is linked to the burial of St. Anthony. It was up to the citizens of Padua to set up the building site, but it was the Franciscan friars from the nearby friary who guided its construction and conceived its design. The Basilica of St. Anthony is a unique building in which three styles, envisaged together already at the design stage, blend perfectly: the Lombard Romanesque, solid and massive; the Gothic of the ogives and verticality of the interior; and the Byzantine style of the domes, reminiscent of St. Mark’s Basilica in Venice and the basilicas of Constantinople (Istanbul).
Since its conception, the Basilica has been designed as a great generator of symbols, capable of preparing the faithful to cross the threshold that separates the profane from the sacred world, and to accompany them, step by step, along an itinerary that is both interior and architectural to the encounter with Jesus Christ.