Este
Este is a municipality in the province of Padua in the Veneto, situated to the south of the Euganean Hills, in a south-westerly position relative to the provincial capital.
The municipality of Este, located on the southern slopes of the Euganean Hills, lies 32 km from Padua and 24 from Rovigo.
It can be reached from the A13 Bologna-Padua motorway, exiting at the Monselice toll gate and taking regional road 10 towards Mantua.
Este can also be reached via regional road 10 (from Mantua) or via state road 16 (from Padua), and via provincial road 247 Riviera Berica from Vicenza.
The town of Este has been inhabited since very ancient times: as early as the Iron Age, in fact, it was the main settlement of the ancient Veneti or Palaeoveneti, who developed the town, making its economy flourish thanks to trade with neighbouring civilisations, but also with the Greeks and the Romans.
Later, in the 3rd-2nd century BC, Este was recognised as a Roman colony, while the Veneto became an ally of Rome. Finds from these periods are preserved in the National Atestine Museum. In 89 BC, with the lex Pompeia, Latin rights were granted; in 49 BC, at the outbreak of the civil war between Pompey and Caesar, the latter, in order to gain the support of the population, granted Roman citizenship to the whole of Cisalpine Gaul, of which he had been proconsul between 58 and 49. With the death of Caesar, there were years of civil war. Following the Battle of Actium, Augustus entrusted the soldiers of the V and XI legions with the territories of the ager of Este (made up of the territories of Galzignano, Teolo, Lonigo, Noventa Vicentina, Trecenta, Pernumia, Monselice and Cinto Euganeo). Following the barbarian invasions and the fall of the Western Roman Empire, Este became depopulated, dwindling to a rural village: according to some, this happened because of its opposition to Attila, since the latter was accustomed to destroying every city that showed itself hostile to him. Este thus fell into the hands of the Huns and subsequently those of the Ostrogoths, who decreed the end of the Roman Empire.
