Sant'Angelo di Piove di Sacco
Sant'Angelo di Piove di Sacco lies in the Saccisica, the agricultural plain south-east of Padua bounded by the Brenta river, the B...
Updated 12 July 2026
The story
The story of Sant'Angelo di Piove di Sacco
In the Saccisica plain
Sant'Angelo di Piove di Sacco belongs to the Saccisica, the rural area south-east of Padua between the course of the Brenta river and the Venetian coastal strip. It is flat land, historically shaped by water reclamation and intensive farming, part of a network of small agricultural towns of which Sant'Angelo is a representative example.
From Roman origins to the rule of the Bishop of Padua
The territory has Roman origins, evidenced by numerous archaeological finds. In the Lombard period, the stagnant waters were channelled into the Canalizzo, an old riverbed flowing into the Brenta, which encouraged fishing and farming. From 897 the territory became the property of the Bishop of Padua, following a donation by King Berengar of Italy; the first document naming Sant'Angelo dates to 1079.
The church of San Michele Arcangelo
The town's name likely derives from local devotion to Saint Michael the Archangel, its patron saint, whose church is documented from 1198. It is the town's historic religious landmark and the point around which the settlement developed over the centuries.
Venetian villas and casoni: two faces of the countryside
From the late fifteenth century, the countryside around Sant'Angelo was enriched with palaces belonging to noble Venetian families such as the Donà, Gradenigo, Foscarini, Mocenigo and Contarini, a sign of the expansion of Venetian landownership into the Saccisica. Alongside these manor houses, labourers and peasants lived in casoni, humble straw-roofed dwellings typical of the Paduan plain, evidence of the social inequalities of the old rural order.
Farming and shoemaking tradition
Sant'Angelo di Piove di Sacco retains a centuries-old tradition linked to farming and, more recently, to shoemaking craftsmanship, which developed in the town alongside the San Michele fair. It is a local economy that reflects the productive character of the Saccisica, combining agriculture with small-scale manufacturing.
Experiences not to miss
- Visit the church of San Michele Arcangelo, documented since 1198
- Look for traces of the Canalizzo, the old riverbed from the Lombard period
- Look out for the Venetian villas of the countryside, evidence of noble Venetian landownership
- Discover the rural architecture of the traditional Saccisica casoni
- Learn about the local shoemaking tradition tied to the San Michele fair
To see
What to see in Sant'Angelo di Piove di Sacco
Routes · Trovido Route
