On a small square near the university, a stone sarcophagus sits high on a base under a little canopy. Padua calls it the Tomb of Antenor, the Trojan hero who, according to ancient poets, escaped the fall of Troy and founded the city. The bones inside are real, but they belong to someone who died about 1,500 years after Troy: the monument is less a grave than a medieval statement about where Padua came from.
The Tomb of Antenor at a glance
- Where: Piazza Antenore, at the corner of Via San Francesco and the Riviera Tito Livio, a short walk from the university's Palazzo del Bo.
- Created: the sarcophagus was dug up in 1274, and the monument over it was completed by 1284.
- By: commissioned by Lovato Lovati, a Paduan judge and poet often counted among the first humanists.
- What it is today: an open-air monument on a city square, free to see at any time.
- Time needed: 10 minutes, a little longer if you read up on the story first.
A medieval scholar finds a founder
In 1274 workers digging foundations for a foundling hospital came across an ancient sarcophagus with a skeleton inside. Lovato Lovati, a scholar who loved Roman authors, declared that these were the remains of Antenor. He had good literary reasons to want it: in the first book of Virgil's Aeneid, Antenor is said to have founded the city of Patavium, Roman Padua, and Livy, the great Roman historian born in Padua, begins his history of Rome with Antenor's arrival on the Adriatic coast. A founder from Troy gave Padua a pedigree as old as Rome's.
Lovato had the sarcophagus raised on a base under a protective canopy in front of the church of San Lorenzo, near his own house, and wrote a Latin inscription for it. The church was later demolished, but the tomb stayed. Modern science has been less kind to the legend: when the sarcophagus was opened during restoration in 1995, the bones were found to be mixed and disturbed, and carbon dating of a fragment pointed to the 3rd or 4th century AD, the late Roman period.
What to look for
- The raised sarcophagus: notice how it is lifted well above street level on its base, so passers-by have to look up at the city's founder.
- The canopy: a simple roof shelters the coffin. Its open, freestanding design is an early example of the raised outdoor tombs that later became famous in Verona.
- The inscriptions: look for the Latin lines on the monument, written in the spirit of the classical texts Lovato admired.
- Lovato's own tomb: beside the founder's sarcophagus stands a similar one that Lovato prepared for himself. Look for the dog carved on one side, which earned it the nickname 'the tomb of Antenor's dog'.
A golden sword?
Stories gathered around the tomb almost as soon as it was built. One of them claims that in 1334 Alberto II della Scala, a member of the ruling family of Verona that then controlled Padua, had the sarcophagus reopened in the hope of finding a golden sword buried with the Trojan hero. Nothing of the kind has ever been documented inside, so treat it as a legend, but it shows how seriously people once took the idea that Antenor really lay here.
Tips for your visit
- The square is small and busy with traffic and bikes, so cross to the opposite pavement for a clear view and a photo of the whole monument.
- Come in the late afternoon, when students fill the streets around the university and the square feels lived in.
- Combine the visit with a walk along the Riviera Tito Livio, named after the historian who first told Antenor's story to Roman readers.
Nearby
- Palazzo del Bo: the historic seat of the University of Padua, where Galileo taught and where you can visit the anatomical theatre on a guided tour.
- Palazzo della Ragione: the medieval law court with its enormous upstairs hall, between the two market squares, Piazza delle Erbe and Piazza della Frutta.
- Basilica of Sant'Antonio: the great pilgrimage church of Padua, with its domes and minaret-like towers, about a 15-minute walk south.
- Scrovegni Chapel: Giotto's fresco cycle from the early 14th century, a few minutes beyond the university to the north.
See Padua with World City Trail
Our Padua scavenger hunt turns the old town into a game you play on your phone. The route links 10 stops and takes around 2 hours, with about 42 minutes of walking, and it includes places such as the Scrovegni Chapel and Piazza Garibaldi.
If you prefer a different format, Padua also has a self-guided walking tour and an outdoor escape game.
Play the Padua scavenger hunt →
Take the self-guided walking tour of Padua →
Play the outdoor escape game in Padua →
Facts checked in October 2026.