One of the most ancient cartographic representations of the built-up area of Montegrotto, year 1530
The map represents the hydraulic network between Mezzavia and the portion of Montegrotto’s territory embracing the present-day via Neroniana and the first Euganean hills. Mezzavia is recognizable by the presence of Palazzo Avogadro, the high crenellated building located in the top left-hand corner of the drawing: the Palace was built in the 16th century as a good checking post, and tore down in 1935 in order to widen the road leading from Padova to Battaglia; the “fiume de Meza Via”, today Canale Battaglia, flowed under the bridge on which the Palace lay.
The square pool located approximately in the middle of the map was Montegrotto’s thermal source “balenij Montis Groti”, which can be situated in the precincts of the area today occupied by the Terme Neroniane Hotel.
In the map it is also possible to recognize a stretch of the river “Rialto”, which flows from the bottom to the top of the drawing and then debouches into the “fiume de Meza Via”, as well as the “boscho de Monte Groto” (boscho = wood), located upwards; the map was presumably commissioned by the Paduan Monastero di San Benedetto, whose ownerships are visible in the midpoint of the represented hilly area.
La riproduzione del documento sottostante è stata eseguita dalla Sezione di Fotoriproduzione dell’Archivio di Stato di Padova su concessione del Ministero per i Beni e le Attività Culturali, Archivio di Stato di Padova n. 07/2013 del 22/05/2013 Prot. n. 01616 Cl. 28.13.07/1.2
Dal Cortivo…
