Church of San Bortolo
The Church of San Bartolomeo and monastery are located in the heart of the ancient San Bortolo district; the first news of the presence dates back to 1254, when a certain Friar Paglia obtained consent from the bishop Guglielmo d’Este to build a church in honour of the blessed Apostle Bartolomeo. The present church was begun in 1562 and between the 1600s and 1700s other expansions and renovations of the building took place. The stucco was completed, the floor was reconstructed and a second cloister was built. The interior is home to two marble angels placed at the sides of the altar carved by the Flemish Giusto Le Court, a pupil of Bernini; the paintings dating from the XVII and XVIII centuries are of considerable importance, as is the precious organ dated 1767 by Gaetano Callido.

Olivetani monastery
At about 600 meters from the gate entrance of San Bortolo, lies the ancient Olivetani monastery of San Bortolo, founded in the XIII century by the Umiliati who were dedicated to the processing of wool, who occupied it until 1436. In 1444 the monastery was entrusted to Bartolomeo Roverella, but it was another member of the noble family, Nicholas, to restore the convent entrusting it to the monks of his order, the Olivetani. So in 1480 the new cloister was built, surrounded by 12 rooms and, in 1562, the reconstruction of the church also began. Of particular interest is the cloister of the 1500s located at the entrance of the monastery, probably the work of Biagio Rossetti and, in the centre, a magnificent wellhead attributed to Sansovino. With the arrival of the French in 1797 the monastery was closed, sold to private individuals and then transferred to the City in 1844 that turned it into an asylum. In the last decade of the 1900s the complex underwent a thorough restoration and has become a museum.

Museum Dei Grandi Fiumi (Museum of the Great Rivers)
After a radical renovation of the entire building complex, the Museum of the Great Rivers opened in 2001. The exhibits trace the evolution of the social structure of civilizations and of communities born on the banks of rivers that characterise the Polesine territory, recounting the analogies of the evolution of other European populations that originated and flourished along the banks of major rivers.
The archaeological collection contains mainly artefacts found and collected in different years in Middle and Upper Polesine and archaeological artefacts documenting the history of Polesine from the Bronze Age to the Renaissance period.
The old dormitory and the monks’ cells are home to the realistic natural settings, virtual reconstructions, the monumental installations and showcases housing archaeological finds.
The exhibition features reconstructions of discovery sites, and life-size exhibits that reproduce the houses, clothing and activities during the era presented.
For the Bronze Age artefacts are included from excavations (Larda of Gavello and Zanforlina Pontecchio) and part of the collections of the surface and excavation finds conducted at Frattesina (settlement and necropolis).
For the Iron Age (V cent. BC) the artefacts are from Balone near Rovigo (necropolis and settlement), San Cassiano (village) and artefacts recovered from surface finds in the territory of Gavello.
The collected relics from Roman times, including a particularly large collection of artefacts found over a period of ten years of excavation (1990-2000) in the municipalities of Gaiba and Ficarolo, should not be underestimated.
Also important is the collection of ceramics dating from the XIV – XVIII centuries, the result of excavations that have been conducted since 1965 and coming from the Middle – Upper territory of Polesine and from the urban area of Rovigo.
Visitors will learn of aspects of domestic, social and religious life of the most ancient periods of the history of Polesine, in the general view of Italian and European cultures of the same eras.

Church of the Rotonda
You are in Piazza XX Settembre, built during Austrian domination after the dismantling of the vegetable garden of the Franciscan minori Friars. The Temple of the Beata Vergine del Soccorso, Our Lady of Salvation, stands at the end of the avenue. Known as “La Rotonda” for the unusual octagonal shape of the building, it was built in 1594 from a design by Francesco Zamberlan, a collaborator of Andrea Palladio. The church was built to preserve a miraculous fresco which was located near the walls that surrounded the Franciscan property.
The church was consecrated in 1603 and three years later, due to problems with the dome, some 24 metres in diameter, the church was was given a simple sloping roof, designed by Giovanni Autrich. The outside portico surrounding the building has become, over the centuries, a place of tribute to the city, with artefacts coming from churches and convents suppressed by Napoleonic laws and with commemorative plaques that recall the civil and social history of the community. The entrance was once from the west but has been moved to the south side of the building. To the left of the entrance door, a stone pavement crosses the floor from the inner edge to the pillar where three meters above a small hole can be seen, it is a sundial and if you happen to pass through Rovigo at noon do not miss the effect of the sun’s rays on the day of the summer solstice.

Church of the Rotonda – interior
Moving, is the word that describes the sensation you feel upon entering the church.
The contrast between the brightness of the outside and the rarefied atmosphere of the interior is accentuated by the golden hues of the alter, by Caracchio, which contains the miraculous fresco of the Madonna and Child and internal decorations that comprise a significant series of works of art of the most important Venetian artists of the XVII century.
The interior decorations have not followed any programmatic design and was built between 1625 and 1689; it is a true and proper series of decorative paintings that are designed to pay homage to the Madonna and celebrate the Venetian Republic, created, among others, by artists of the caliber of Francesco Maffei, Pietro Liberi and Antonio Servi.
Three phases are distinguishable, in the lower segment are paintings dedicated to episodes from the life of Mary alternated with glorifications the podesta; The middle is marked by stucco statues representing the apostles, evangelists, and the patron Saints of Rovigo, that alternate with paintings that represent the miracles of the frescos; finally, the upper group with glorifications of podesta, except the canvas above the altar depicting the symbols of the passion of Christ.
Of great importance is the organ and the decoration of the predella by Novelli, while the fresco decorating the ceiling is by Vittorio Bressanin, 1887, depicting the plague which is the foundation of the cult of the Madonna del Soccorso.

Church of Saints Francesco and Giustina
The first information of the Church of San Francesco dates back to 1292, the year in which Obizzo II d’Este signed a bequeath for the community of the Franciscan Friars in Rovigo who had been in the city since 1213. Five years later construction began on the building with an adjacent monastery which consisted of two cloisters, one of which connecting with the church. In 1413 the church was enlarged with a nave to the south. The entire building was constructed in exposed brick and the bell tower was built in 1520.
The church was also dedicated to Santa Giustina in 1806, four years before the church of the same name, located in the current Piazza Garibaldi, was demolished.
The current neo-classical style of the church is due to the renovation and expansion that took place between 1827 and 1896 on a design by Lorenzo Urbani and Lorenzo Rossini.

Church of Saints Francesco and Giustina – Interior
The oldest marble and burial evidence of one of the oldest churches in Rovigo have been almost completely eliminated during the nineteenth-century reconstruction of the building.
As you enter you can immediately see a valuable holy water font dating back to the early first decade of the XVI century and the first chapel on the right houses a valuable painting attributed to the Maestro dei Dodici Apostoli, Master of the Twelve Apostles, moving on, other valuable works can be seen including “The Madonna Enthroned between Saints Pietro and Andrea” by Domenico Panetti, in the second chapel on the right, or the sculpture of “St. Lorenzo ” attributed to Giovanni Maria Morlaiter in the next chapel.
Further on an altarpiece depicting the “Pentecost” by Girolamo da Carpi, and of the three small canvases that decorated the dais only “St. Francis receiving the stigmata” remains.
In the left aisle is the famous “Pieta” by Tullio Lombardo dated 1526, lower down, on either side of the statue, two statues one of Saint Bellino on the right and the other of Saint Stefano on the left. A recent restoration has brought to light a Gothic chapel in the back wall of the left transept.

Church of Christ
The Church of the Immaculate Conception of Mary, commonly known as “of the Cristo,” is one of the oldest religious buildings in Rovigo; according to a local historian, it was founded by St. Francis himself in 1213, with the title of the Holy Cross. At one time the church was attached to the convent of the Franciscan Minori and was probably the third to be built in the city after the Cathedral and the church of Santa Giustina.
The building underwent several renovations over the centuries. In the second half of the 1800s, the floor was rebuilt and the rooms where St. Francis of Assisi had spent a night in prayer were renovated.
In 1810, after the Napoleonic government instituted the solemnity of Christ, the devotion of the people moved towards the image of the Crucifix considered miraculous; from which the “chiesa di Cristo” derives its name.
The current facade in neo albertiano style was designed in 1888 by Raffaele Cattaneo from Rovigo, while the interior retains its medieval features in the three low naves and wooden ceiling.

Palazzo Ravenna
If you leave the monument of Garibaldi at your back and turn your gaze to the Chamber of Commerce and the Teatro Sociale, Palazzo Ravenna can be seen between these two buildings. A building with Venetian character built in the late 1500s and early 1600s by the Fracchetta family, then passed to the Bonanome family, which made it their residence in the XVIII century. In 1858 the palazzo was bought by a rich merchant jew, Angelo Ravenna, from whom the palazzo takes its name. He had it carefully restored, transforming the building to that which we see it today. The central hall was lengthened and the building at the back was incorporated into the main building onto which another floor was added. Cast iron was used for window decorations and the railings of the stairs, the first example to be seen in Rovigo.
In the back, structures that were probably used as utility rooms by the Ravenna family, have been recently restored and re-baptized with the name of “Palazzeto delle Campagne Vecchie” “Small Palazzo of the old farmland” and used for cultural activities as well as for housing the rich and valuable archives of the Reclamation Consortium of Polesine Adige Canalbianco, which has had its seat in the building since 1951.

Palazzo Campo and Via Silvestri
What was once called the main road of San Francesco, now Via Silvestri in honor of the noble family who resided there, is actually the natural continuation of Piazza Garibaldi to the east.
In addition to Palazzo Silvestri you can also admire Palazzo Campo, built by the Foligno in the second half of the 1400s. In 1574 Emanuele Filiberto of Savoia resided here. He arrived in Rovigo following Henry III of Valois, as commemorated by a large plaque placed on the facade in 1928.
The palazzo was later bought by the Campo family which probably restored and enriching it with works of art and today it is a school.
Along the way beautiful palazzi face the road, graceful and stately in style and, above all, one of the most important and oldest churches in the city: the church of Saints Franceso and Giustina.

Teatro Sociale
The elegant neoclassical building that closes the northern side of Piazza Garibaldi is the Teatro Sociale. The original name was Teatro della Società and was built between 1817 and 1819, designed by Sante Baseggio, on the site once occupied by the former Church of St. Maria dei Battuti. It was officially opened on April 12,1819, with the representation of “Adelaide of Burgundy”, composed especially for the event by Pietro Generali and performed by the most famous singers of the moment: Violante Camporesi and Claudio Bonoldi. The first restoration took place in 1858 and in 1902 a fire destroyed much of the building which was reconstructed in two years on a design by Donghi. The art nouveau decorations were overseen by the artist Giovanni Vianello, who decorated the interior with the procession of the Muses, and on the parapets of the first order of balconies there are eight portraits of famous men: Goldoni, Metastasio, Alfieri, Doninzetti, Verdi, Rossini, Bellini and Mercadante. The new Teatro Sociale was inaugurated by Pietro Mascagni, who directed the “Iris” October 12, 1904, and saw the debut of two of the major artists of the last century: Beniamino Gigli and Renata Tebaldi.

Palazzo Silvestri
A must, along the short route that connects Piazza Garibaldi to the Church of the Rotonda, is a stop at Palazzo Silvestri which was the home of the rich and prestigious family of the same name, protagonist of the public and cultural life of the city for at least three centuries.
The building is located just after the Teatro Sociale and probably dates from the second half of the 1400s; It is characterised by substantially simple shapes enriched by imaginative use of terracotta tiles enriched with sober frames that decorate the openings and windows which are coupled at the corners of the rooms as was the architectural style of Ferrara.
The beautiful portal is topped by a round stone with the family crest: an ornate shield with a rampant leopard.
Today the building has extensions of unknown eras on both sides, while the main building carefully restored has returned to the charm of the past.

Piazza Garibaldi
Piazza Garibaldi arose in 1809, when the old Church of Santa Giustina was demolished following the Napoleonic suppression of religious orders. The Church was one of the oldest in the city and some documents show that it already existed in 1195. If you look down at the pavement you can see the trace of the building shape outlined on the Istrian stone Listòn.
Due to its small size, the square was the place of departure of the “Race of the Berbers”, in vogue between the XVIII and XIX centuries, a popular spectacle that also involved the nobles and local gentlemen. After the demolition of the church, the square became the home of the vegetable market and then, after the transformation of Palazzo Pretorio into the seat of the Chamber of Commerce in 1851, the grain market was transferred to the square.
In 1896 the bronze monument by the artist Ettore Ferrari dedicated to the hero of two worlds Giuseppe Garibaldi was inaugurated.
The square is striking due to the presence of palazzi and buildings that follow one another in a succession of styles and eras. From Borsa Café the view extends from the old Palazzo Pretorio , with its Art Deco elements; Palazzo Ravenna, now home to the Reclamation Consortium, to the neoclassical town Theatre dated 1819 ending, on the opposite side, with Palazzo Nagliati, today a space of the Accademia dei Concordi for young people.

Monument to Garibaldi
In June 1882, after the death of the hero of two worlds, Rovigo wanted to pay homage to him by commissioning an equestrian statue dedicated to him. The same year a tragic flood of the Adige devastated the city so the statue was commissioned a few years later, Ettore Ferrari was able to create it only in 1896. Ferrari asked that he be paid only living expenses for the work of the bronze monument, so he was awarded honorary citizenship. A curious anecdote, the accuracy of which is doubtful, the monument was meant for the city of Rome but was brought to Rovigo as the artist, notoriously known as a Republican, had placed two crowns under the brackets, in contempt of the Savoy monarchy.

Chamber of Commerce
On the northern side of Piazza Garibaldi, at the intersection with Via Bedendo, you can see the ancient palazzo pretorio built in the late 1400s as the residence of the Venetian Podesta together with the administrative and judicial offices of the government of Polesine. The building underwent, over the course of the next century, numerous modifications and extensions so that in the 1600s it had a large door that opened onto an ample courtyard. Inside, next to the private rooms, the Podesta’s study, the council room, there was also a prison for torture equipped with a pulley to string up prisoners to be interrogated.
With the fall of the Venetian Republic, the palace lost prestige and with the Austrian domination it became the Royal Imperial Court with adjoining prison preserved until 1857.
The establishment of the Chamber of Commerce, which took place around the mid 1800s, the restructuring of the ground floor with a rearrangement of the space was undertaken: the hall became the Exchange, a cafe was opened called Cafe Borsa, still here today and spaces for merchants to trade. On the premises rooms were reserved for the Office of Post and Telegraph which remained there until 1931. The “Salone del Grano”, “Grain Trade Hall”, was created in 1929 in the main building, with a large glass barrel vault, made of glass panels supported by a wooden and iron structure and the coats of arms of the Province and of the Chamber of Commerce are in the centre of the the mosaic floor.

Church of San Domenico
Commonly known as the church of San Domencio, the building is named after Saint Antonio Abate.
The church is all that remains of the original building which housed a hospital in the XV century and later, after several interventions during the XVI century, a convent, nuns assigned to the Terziarie Domenicane, who replaced the Friars of the Order of the Predicatori. After its demolition, in the XIX century, the annonario, general, market was built. The church has undergone several restorations over the centuries which have compromised the exterior. Inside it retains the original shape, some sculptures of the XVII and XVIII century are worth noting: the bust of St. Antonio Abate and the statuettes of St.Paolo and St.Sebastiano by Bernardo Falcone, the tabernacle, a small statue of Christ by Giovanni Fasolato , Santa Barbara by Pietro Baratta, the angels and cherub heads by Antonio Gai.

Piazzetta Annonaria
Founded in 1860 where the the eighteenth-century convent of St. Dominico Church once stood, the Annonario market still features the original shape of the cloister.
At the time in the so-called “piazzetta” were, among other shops, the municipal bread oven, some say the best in the city. Today there are some grocery stores, fruit and vegetables shops and shops which sell household items, and the only fresh fish left in the city, after the closing of the fish market.

Piazza Merlin
You find yourself in the ancient Piazza Roma, built between 1928 and 1930 in the area that had been occupied since 1627 by the Jewish Ghetto which was once in the area between the Dominican Convent and San Bortolo Gate. In 1968 It was named after the member of Parliament from Rovigo Umberto Merlin.
The entrance portal, as well as the commemorative plaque celebrating the erection of the Ghetto, once on Via X Luglio, were moved to the south entrance of the general market square.
The area is an inviting open air sitting room where one can enjoy a relaxing break in the park built around the fountain.

Porta San Bortolo
With that of St. Agostino, San Bortolo Gate, is the other and better preserved evidence of the ancient roads which led into the city. Marin Sanudo recalls that in 1483 the gate was being restored after being damaged during the Salt war.
The door opens onto the present day Piazza Merlin connecting the city centre with the neighbourhood of St. Bortolo, from which it derives its name.
The property was originally topped by battlements, subsequently raised in 1639, traces of which remain visible. In that year the Podestà Vittorio Correr had a watch with two dials placed on the tower one facing inside and the other outside of the city.
Under the portico some marble reliefs reproduce the coats of arms of the Doge Giovanni Mocenigo and Giosafat Barbaro, captain and administrator of Polesine.
In the XIX century, the gate was to be demolished to widen the road and only the intervention of the owners of Palazzo Veronese, which had an outer wall next to the entrance, avoided the loss of one the city’s historical artifacts.

Jewish ghetto
In 1627 the Venetians imposed rules that the Jews in the city live in a delimited, closed in area, with its own synagogue so as not to contaminate the religion of the Christians.
Thus, the wide area between the Dominican monastery and San Bortolo Gate became home to many Jewish families, who continued to work in their shops outside the ghetto during the day, mostly along the nearby Via Cavour below the so-called portico of the Jews, and in the evening returned to their homes within the gates guarded by watchmen.
The synagogue stood in the centre of the ghetto, where it remained until 1930, when it was moved to via Corridoni. The original space, after the Second World War, became the studio of the sculptor Virgilio Milani of Rovigo
Only with the arrival of the French, in 1797, did the Jewish segregation in Rovigo end and plaque placed above the main entrance in Via X Luglio was symbolically broken by chisel.
Between 1926 and 1930, much of the ghetto, long abandoned by Jewish families and heavily degraded and dilapidated, was demolished and Piazza Roma was created in its place, then renamed Piazza Merlin in honour of the Senator from Rovigo. The only remaining trace of the ghetto is in the old headstone now placed above the entrance of Annonaria Square on the side facing Porta San Bortolo.

Church of San Michele
At the end of the 1500s the convent of the Capuchin friars had settled in a neighborhood outside the city walls once called San Bernardo, to the right of the Adigetto, where the Corso del Popolo divides today. 30 years later a church dedicated to St. Michele the Archangel was also annexed to the monastery. The church was built with the alms collected by the friars. The facade is simple and unadorned and the interior has a single nave. Over the course of the following centuries, it was repeatedly restored and enriched with large paintings and important furnishings. However, when the Capuchins left San Michele in 1888 to move into a new home, the convent was incorporated into the adjacent present day school building and part of the artistic heritage went missing. Today only the large wooden altar of the presbytery topped by a beautiful altarpiece by Girolamo Brusaferro and a small cloister remain. From 1895 to 1900 a small prodigious fact took place In this church : an image of the Madonna Addolorata, Our Lady of Sorrow, in the church moved and changed expression. The painting was later moved to the church of Serve di Maria Riparatrici, not far from the Capuchins, where it remains today. In 1996 the church was the object of a meticulous restoration promoted and carried out by the Lions Club of Rovigo that transformed it into multipurpose room now used for exhibition purposes

Torre Pighin
The tower that rises in via Pighin is the only evidence of the towers that marked the walls in medieval times. Originally the tower opened onto the inside of the city as it served only a defensive purposes and not housing. The interior was divided into some floors in wood which were connected by ladders.
In the eighteenth century, it lost all its military significance and, with the addition of the missing wall, a private home was established within the structure.
The building was abandoned for decades in the last century, until the recent restoration has made it inhabitable once again.

Former Bishop’s Palace
The current configuration of the building dates from the XVII century; records show that in 1608 Bishop Girolamo Porcia ordered reconstruction of the foundations of the central building, making provisions for the ground floor to have a portico with low arches; the two side buildings delimiting the courtyard are probably the result of adaptations of preexisting buildings. Also in the seventeenth century Bishop Carlo Labia restored and decorated the palazzo by having a double curved staircase constructed that obstructing some arches of the portico as well as the main entrance on the road, the smaller ones, on the side, are of the new arrangement of the fence designed by the engineer Dino Stori in 1929. In 1942 the Bishopric moved to new premises and the seventeenth-century building was sold to the Bank of Italy that allocates it for residential use. In 1978 the Bank transfers it to the City of Rovigo. In 1981 some changes are made to allow the use of the building as a middle school and the Conservatory of Rovigo. With these changes, only the chapel on the first floor, now used as the school offices, has maintained the appearance attributable to the reconstruction wanted by Bishop Arnaldo Speroni degli Alvarotti of 1788. The fountain and outdoor staircase were rebuilt based the preexisting model in 1986.

Porta Sant’Agostino
The name comes from the ancient church of St. Agostino, annexed to the convent of the Eremiti, which once stood on the spot, torn down in 1772 in order to build the new diocesan Seminary.
Not far away stood the Portello, small door, demolished in 1824, which as its name denotes, had to be a door of a smaller size.
No documents have emerged able to date the construction of the Gate, while the renovation work in 1713 is certain, which gave the gate its characteristic termination with opposing curves. In 1983, during a new restoration, the ancient inscription over the inner facade, now illegible “Porta Divi Augustini”, was replaced with the current “Porta Augustina”.
The ancient city wall was characterised by numerous gates, towers with battlements and turrets overlooking the city, among them San Bortolo where the last remaining tower, Torre Pighin, can be admired.

Church of St. Agostino
The church of Sant’Agostino was built in the late 1500s to complete the convent of the Eremitani Fathers of St. Agostino of the Congregation of Monte Ortone, already in existance in 1528. The convent was demolished two centuries later to make room for the new diocesan seminary and on that occasion the church was re-designed, maintaining its original structure with a single nave and simple harmonious lines that characterised it. Today, thanks to a recent restoration that has improved the acoustics, it is used as a music and concert space.