Teatros de tierra y agua: vocaciones y destino del área del “valle” en Padua

Earth and water theaters: vocations and destiny of the "valley" area of Padua - The article aims to interpret the long-term structure and identarian constructs that underlie the complex of open spaces on the southern edge of the urban center of Padua in a site referred to as the ‘valle’. The historical formation of the spatial articulation of the ‘Orto botanico’ and ‘Prato della Valle’ are analyzed in relation to the immediate urban context, with a varied topography of wetlands covered by cane thicket and drier relieves of cultivations and orchards, the territorial context between the Euganean Hills and the fluvial fan of the Brenta River’s digressions, along with the wider geographical scope of the Veneto plains, which lie between the Alpine arc and the Lagoon of Venice.