When, in the year 1220, Padua commissioned architect Benedetto Carturo with the task to create a fortified outpost that would oppose to the expansionism of Treviso in the Brenta area, the area on which stands the city of Cittadella today, the site housed the ancient traces of a Roman past which the early medieval period had partially wiped out.

In the years that followed, and throughout the 13th century, the works to build a massive walled city, that would prove the willingness of Padua not to retreat in the northern part of its territory, went ahead busily. It was, in fact, Cittadella the result of this strategy and being equipped with its own self-government due to the tactical importance of the location.

In the year 1406, and with the subjugation of Padua to Venice, Cittadella also came under the rule of the Serenissima (Republic of Venice). Its characteristic roundish shape and its perfectly orthogonal inner streets passed from being a functional military site to an efficient commercial hub, which communicated with the outside thanks to its 4 massive doorways: the Vicentina, Padovana, Bassanese and Trevisana doors.

With the decline of the Serenissima, Cittadella, which had already lost ground in favour of Castelfranco, experienced a period of redefinition of identity. Today the city is one of the most fascinating historical centres of the Veneto region.

Link utili
www.procittadella.it