Padua is a city and comune in Veneto, northern Italy, and the capital of the eponymous province of Padua. The city lies on the banks of the river Bacchiglione, 40 kilometres west of Venice and 29 km southeast of Vicenza, and has a population of 214,000. It is also the economic and communications hub of the area. Padua is sometimes included, with Venice and Treviso, in the Padua-Treviso-Venice Metropolitan Area (PATREVE) which has a population of around 2,600,000.

A comune is an administrative division of Italy, roughly equivalent to a township or municipality. It is the third-level administrative division of Italy, after regions and provinces. The comune can also have the title of città.