Established in 1989, the Euganean Hill Regional park includes 15 municipalities and extends for 18,694 hectares to the south-west of Padua.
The park contains the most significant hills in the Po Valley, each rising alone. Their particular location and volcanic origins, different climatic outlook and the active presence of man since ancient times have made this area unique in terms of natural wealth, landscape, environment, culture and art.
Among one of the most fascinating stories that have accompanied the Euganean Hill Regional Park territory for centuries, is the Sirenella, the mermaid of Lake Lispida, one of two natural thermal basins in the area. The legend narrates of a love story between Sirenella and Count Monticelli who, being extremely ill, managed to cure his health with Euganean Hill mud. The story also celebrates the beneficial properties of the lake's thermal mud, which is still a unique and valuable resource today.
Deep among the Euganean Hills, at Luvignano Terme, you can find the extraordinary Villa dei Vescovi, which the See of Padua had built between 1535 and 1542 on an embankment to provide the bishop with a luxury summer house. Seeing is believing!
