New Courtyard

The monumental New Courtyard, originally called “Cortile Littorio” (the Fascist Courtyard), is the

heart of the twentieth-century wing of the Bo Palace. This space, which features a quadrangular

porch in Orsera stone with clean and principal shapes, was designed by the Veronese architect

Ettore Fagiuoli at the request of rector Carlo Anti as a place to celebrate the fighting spirit of the

university students. This theme is explicitly seen in the relief by Attilio Selva, affixed to the eastern

wall of the portico, and is dedicated to the volitional spirit of the Paduan golardia from 1848

onwards. The sculpture by Paduan artist Paolo Boldrin, placed in the nearby Meridiana courtyard,

carries also the same venerative value, and it represents the University of Padua as a Minerva

Vittoriosa .