Church of Saint Philip and James, Hermits (Eremitani)

The first settlement of the order of the Eremitani was attested in Padua in 1218; however the church of Saints Philip and James was progressively extended and only reached its final structure at the beginning of the fourteenth century.

The church, with a single nave, has a rather elongated plant which ends with three apses. On the right, we find the Ovetari chapel, which was decorated by Andrea Mantegna between 1448 and 1457, while on the south side there are four deep side chapels.

The top part of the façade, in terracotta, has five pilasters (false columns placed against the wall), a large central rose window and four smaller oculi.

The lower part, characterised by an old-fashioned, probably unfinished stone cladding with five deep embrasures, was built during the intervention by Brother Giovanni of the Eremitani, from 1306, to whom the extraordinary wooden "ship's-keel" ceiling inside is also attributed.