Abbey of Santa Giustina, Benedictine abbey in Prato della Valle, Padua, Italy

The Abbey of Santa Giustina is a Benedictine basilica in Prato della Valle, Padua, built of brown brick with a tall, flat facade. Its Latin-cross plan measures 118.5 m long and 82 m wide, with 26 pillars supporting eight lead-covered domes; the central dome rises almost 70 m and carries a copper statue of Saint Justina about 5 m high.

A church stood here by the 520s, built under the prefect Opilio over Saint Justina's tomb; it was sacked in 1110 and devastated by the earthquake of 1117. Reconstruction began in 1501 on a design Dom Girolamo da Brescia had presented in 1489, with Sebastiano da Lugano and later Andrea Briosco, Andrea Moroni and Andrea da Valle directing the works. The site lasted over a century, and the basilica was consecrated on 14 March 1606.

The monastery preserves relics of Luke the Evangelist and Saint Justina within its marble-lined sanctuary. These burial sites draw pilgrims who pray before the altars and light candles.

The entrance is on the flat brick facade facing Prato della Valle, with three doorways at ground level. Inside, the Latin cross plan runs east to west, 118.5 m long and 82 m wide across the transept, with twelve square chapels, six along each aisle. Allow time to walk the aisles and reach the chapels of Luke and Matthew in the transept.

The building site ran for over a century, and Paduans still say "te si longo come Ɨa fabrica de Santa Giustina" — "you are as slow as the Santa Giustina building works". The church was consecrated only on 14 March 1606, on foundations dug into marshy ground full of hollows.