In 1274, during the construction of a foundlings’ home in San Biagio street, it was found a funerary coffer with two cypress and lead coffins containing human remains with a sword and two pots of gold coins. The judge Lovato Lovati, poet and pre-humanist academic, called to give his opinion on the identity of the warrior, attributed the remains to the Trojan prince Antenor to which, according to Tito Livio, we owe the foundation of Padua. The notables of the city, searching a mythological legitimacy that would be beneficial to the development of the city, decided to support the contention.
In 1283 they decided to build a monument to hold the ark, and Lovati was granted the privilege to affect two of his quatrains in Latin on its sides. The monument, a brick made cusp kiosk, was placed at the side of the bridge of San Lorenzo, from Roman times, which crossed the interior canal which is now underground. One of the arch of the bridge is still visible today from the subway that runs through the Riviera Tito Livio. The tomb of Antenor remained then in the middle of the square and then in 1942 it was placed side by side by Lovati’s grave.
