Prato della Valle, a photo from Padua, Veneto

Photographer's Note

Prato della Valle (Il Prato) is a football shaped eliptical circular canal and park in the centre of Padua (Padova). It is one of the largest parks in Europe. All but 5 of the original statues survive. They were of Venetian Doges and were destroyed by Napolean in 1797. The park was built between 1635 & 1785 AD.

The creature swimming away towards its nest in a hole below the seated women is South American in origin from subtropical and temperate zones. When I asked what it was, locals told me it was a big mouse. But it is the size of a cat. It is a 'coypu', a semi-aquatic rodent that was introduced to Europe for fur farming in the 1920's. more info here:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coypu

Here's a map showing it's range in Europe

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coypu#/media/File:Nutria-Europe.gif

Other names are 'nutria', ragondin (France), beverrat (Holland), Biberratte / Sumpfbiber (Germany), & nutria / castorino (Italy).

pierrefonds, snunney, jhm, alvaraalto, ikeharel, pajaran, papagolf21, Fis2, cornejo, abmdsudi, ricardomattos, Cricri has marked this note useful

Critiques | Translate

dta (95522) 2017-04-21 4:21

Hello Chris ,
Wonderful view , with the rich architecture , the elegant curve of the canal , the great light and the amazing reflections .
Beautiful !

pierrefonds (93555) 2017-04-21 4:38

Bonjour Chris,

Les reflets sur l'eau sont des atouts à la composition. La longueur du canal donne de la profondeur à la scène. La prise de vue permet de voir les détails des statues et des immeubles. La qualité de la lumière embellit les couleurs de l'image. Bonne journée.

Pierre

snunney (130965) 2017-04-21 4:39

Hello Chris,
Fine perspective along this gently curving canal with its delightful reflections. The glorious architecture on display in the background contributes much to the mood of the composition along with well managed light. Lovely warm colours and excellent clarity. I like the repeating motifs offered by the statues.

Nicou (188446) 2017-04-21 4:56

Hello

fantastique vue avec cette courbe quelle tonalité et ces reflets sur le plan d'eau quel captage et image quel statue en bor et façade sueprbe.
Bravo et amitié
Nciou

jhm (191357) 2017-04-21 4:57

Hello Chris,

This is a wonderful picture with all the statues and the reflections in the river.
Colours and sharpness are very nice to look at.
Very well composition, nice presentation. TFS.

Kindest regards,
John

alvaraalto (38634) 2017-04-21 5:08

Hello Chris
Beautiful picture with these curved canal and the beautiful houses behind in a splendid late afternoon light. Interesting note about the swimming creature. It is a pity we don’t have a close-up of it so we could try to identify it. But indeed a “beverrat” seems to me a realistic possibility.
Excellent work
Have a nice day
Groet Rob

lousat (121003) 2017-04-21 5:17

Waaw Chris,what a beauty!!! A great moment talking about the light,perfect to take the best bright reflections,the composition too is wonderful so rich and so sharp,great shot from the heart of Padova,i like it! Have a nice WE and thanks,Luciano

ikeharel (98802) 2017-04-21 5:57

Hello Chris,
The known center-town piazza with the canal crossing, the multi number of beautiful statues and the facades on the outer circle, and the people stride around - all wonderfully shown in this picture.
Superior light and visibility, enhanced its magnificent architecture's.
Bravo and a nice weekend,
Ike

Sergiom (115636) 2017-04-21 6:42

Bonjour Chris,

J'aime beaucoup le point de vue. Probablement une petit pont qui doit être en accord avec tout le reste. Des reflets à faire rêver et une lumière divine.

Amicalement

Serge

holmertz (83300) 2017-04-21 7:05

Hello Chris,
Padua is a relatively unknown city to me, but this photo is a nice introduction. The curving canal and street and all the statues look very elegant and there is a fine light on the buildings. The animal in the canal is an unusual view from an Italian city, or any city. It's occasionally found in parts of Sweden, where it is called nutria, or "sumpbäver", meaning "marsh beaver".
Best regards,
Gert

papagolf21 (145094) 2017-04-21 9:08

Bonsoir, cher Chris,
Difficile de trouver meilleur cadrage pour valoriser la beauté du sujet proposé.
Les satutes semblent se mirer avec délectation dans les eaux calmes du canal.
La lumière est superbe.
Amitiés.
Philippe

Fis2 (142643) 2017-04-21 10:02

Witaj Chris!
Beautiful view, wonderful colours and light.
Very impressive picture!
Vewry good work.
Nice evening.
Krzysztof

cornejo (61182) 2017-04-21 10:56

Hi Chris, very good photograph of this interesting and beautiful composition in the interesting city, very well captured in this interesting image, with good clarity, depth, light, color and quality. Very good and interesting work perfectly done, my congratulations, my friend. Thank you for sharing this beautiful work.

Good night and happy weekend.
Best wishes from the south of Spain.
Angel.

pajaran (92142) 2017-04-21 12:46

Pozdrav.
Interesantan i lep pogled, lep trenutak, dobar tekst ...
Dobar rad i kompozicija, lepo pokazano, dobar kontrast i perspektiva, lepe boje, lepo uhvacen trenutak.
Lep refleks na vodi i arhitektura.
Sve najbolje za vikend, srecno.
Paja.

Greeting.
Interesting and beautiful view, a beautiful moment, a good text ...
Good work and compositions, beautifully shown good contrast and perspectives, beautiful colors, beautiful moment captured.
A beautiful reflection on the water and architecture.
All the best for the weekend, good luck.

abmdsudi (81564) 2017-04-21 19:22

Hi Chris
Nice sweeping point of view for this captivating old town scene with its amazing piece of architecture enhanced by lovely shimmering effect, stunning colours and sublime clarity. That little creature incidentally drags our eye deeper and human interaction as always is a great value to finish off handsomely as a whole Pleasing on the eye....
Congrats
Best wishes

emka (139176) 2017-04-21 23:55

Hello Chris, beautiful place in Padua, how I could miss it when I was there. But have you seen the Scrovegni Chapel with Giotto frescoes? Fantastic light and reflections there.

Kind regrad s MAlgo

ricardomattos (12121) 2017-04-22 6:58

Hi Chris

Amazing picture of this cozy place. I like how you choose this POV and the light of sun on these façades and canal with statues.

Congratulations

Ricardo

Cricri (176) 2017-04-22 7:04

Hi Chris
Magnifique présentation, belle courbe du bassin avec les statues, les reflets, la lumière, très joli
belle journée
cricri

carlo62 (81029) 2017-04-23 22:39

Ciao Chris
Che meraviglia, bellissima foto e splendida giornata, i meravigliosi riflessi completano la tua composizione.
Saluti
Carlo

jmdias (91937) 2017-04-28 16:40

chris

good light at the end of the day enhancing the shapes and colors of those façades. I liked the reflection in the water. I remember well of this place.

hugs

jorge