Scuola del Santo

The Scuola del Santo or Scoletta was the headquarters of the Archconfraternity of St Anthony of Padua. It overhangs the churchyard of Basilica of Saint Anthony of Padua, next door to the St. George's Oratory.
The Confraternity built the Scoletta in 1427 and it was expanded in 1504 with the Sala Priorale (Prior's Room) decorated with a cycle of fifteen frescoes and three canvases, which were worked on by the young Titian between 1510 and 1511. He was entrusted with three frescos of miracles performed by Anthony of Padua, "The Miracle of the Newborn", "The Miracle of the Healed Foot" and "The Miracle of the Jealous Husband". The three large frescoes were painted by him between April and December 1511 in the main room of the Scuola del Santo - they were is first large-scale independent work. The raised arm of the wife in "Husband" is sculpted in relief rather than painted illusionistically.
History.
The Archconfraternity began a few years after St Anthony's death and grew rapidly. During the 13th century its brothers used the 'Sala del Capitolo' as their meeting room, then the 'Cappella della Madonna Mora'. In the 15th century it decided to construct a new building on the edges of the churchyard of the Basilica of Sant'Antonio.
Today's Scuola is made up of the church on the ground floor (1427-1431) and the meeting room upstairs (1504). To the left of the entrance to the church is the neoclassical marble gravestone of Gasparo Gozzi, who died in 1786 - it was sculpted by Giuseppe Petrelli in 1834. Popes visiting Padua usually blessed the crowd from the church's loggia overlooking Piazza del Santo - these have included pope Pius VI in 1782, pope Pius VII in 1800 and pope John Paul II in 1982.
In 1736 the architect Giovanni Gloria built a small building linking the Scuola to the Oratory, with an elegant staircase connecting it to the meeting room. On the landing is a 15th century tempera on panel painting by an unknown artist showing "St Anthony Intending to Write", in poor condition. The Sala priorale has a coffered ceiling by Giovanni Cavalieri, painted by Domenico Bottazzo between 1506 and 1510, making it contemporary with the wooden ceiling, the wardrobes and drawers by Girolamo da Piacenza. Gilded wooden frames subdivide the painted scenes.
List of works.
North wall, anticlockwise