AN INVITATION TO VERONA Come to Verona and visit the city centre with us; it s biggest and most important squares, the streets full of shops and with the most.... inviting restaurants! The visit sets off from Piazza Brà amongst the most important palaces and buildings, the Roman Arena, the small gardens and the Liston - the fashionable Veronese catwalk. Then carry on along Via Mazzini amongst the shops, boutiques, bars and restaurants until you get to the lively Piazza Erbe, heart of Medieval Verona with its market stalls, towers and ancient curios. Finish your walk in the elegant Piazza dei Signori and the nearby courtyards in search of archaeological remains. Welcome to Verona! To start familiarising yourself, set off from Piazza Brà Piazza Brà literally means the big square (from the German word breit). It used to be a huge flat area until 1878 when the small central gardens were created all around the statue of Vittorio Emanuele 11. For centuries the troops of the Venetian Republic used this area as a parade ground and their barracks were in the building known as the Gran Guardia. There used to be a very big statue in the middle of the square which commemorated the historical links between Verona and Venice, but it was destroyed in 1797 by French troops. For some time, a fair was held in Piazza Brà). This square is the biggest in the city centre. We would advise you to enter the square from the southern side where there are two crenellated arches beneath a huge clock, and which the Veronese people call the doorway to the Brà. These arches once formed part of the defensive walls that encircled Verona in Medieval times (see how they are built: the alternating rows of red bricks and yellow sandstone are typical of the Veronese Medieval construction style. The swallow-tail Ghibelline crenellations showed that Verona supported the Emperor and was on his side against the Guelphs.
Once you are through the Doorway look straight in front of you, and, on the left hand side you will see that the multi-coloured buildings and palaces of every shape and size all overlook a wide red stone pavement. This is called the Liston which, in the Veneto dialect means a huge sidewalk. The Veronese people are very attached to this area, and every year, on the 13 th December the Santa Lucia market is celebrated here. (For further information on this feast day, dedicated especially to children see..). The Liston is always full of people, and you too can stroll along here and even sit down at one of the many tables and order something. Before you stop though, I would suggest that you follow us- Come and see the beautiful monuments here in Piazza Brà and discover some curious and interesting things about them! To the right of the Doorway you will find the Gran Guardia Palace This building was designed by Domenico Curtoni who was the nephew and pupil of the great architect Michele Sammicheli. It is of an imposing size, built on two floors and with an impressive colonnade below. The building was begun in 1610, and was completed in 1821, 200 years later when the second floor was finally finished. Nowadays it is used for exhibitions, cultural events, congresses and so on. built in 1600 to house a military garrison while on the other side of the road you can see The Barbieri Palace, another important 19 th century building which looks rather like a Roman temple The Barbieri Palace is also called the City Hall building, and it has been the City Hall ever since 1874. Built in 1838, it was designed by the architect Barbieri as a military barracks (in fact its original name is the New Gran Guardia. The building is in the neoclassical style and is huge in size, with a marble staircase leading up to a majestic colonnade with a triangular pediment. which is the City Hall. Just next to the Barbieri Palace is the Arena. The Arena, or Roman amphitheatre was built during the 1 st century a.d. outside the town walls, and it was one of the biggest amphitheatres in the whole of Italy (152 metres by 123.2 metres at its widest axes) Only a very small portion of the outermost ring is still standing and this was built in the characteristic Tuscan style featuring alternate rows of stone (white and pinkish) which comes from the nearby quarries in Valpolicella. Inside the Arena the actual theatre part was a later addition, as were the stone terraces which were completely rebuilt from 1580 onwards, which is the most famous monument in Verona. The Arena is the biggest Roman amphitheatre in existence after the Colosseum in Rome. But even in ancient times it was one of the most capacious in the
whole of the Roman Empire as it could hold about 30.000 spectators! To give you an idea of what it must have looked like in its prime you should walk round it until you get to the small remaining portion of the outer perimeter, called the Ala or wing. As you can see, this external wall of the Arena is made up of three rows (one above the other) of arched apertures. Each one of these external arches corresponds to an opening in the internal wall. Do you know how many apertures there are in each row? Count them as you make a complete circuit of the Arena to find the answer! Here in the Arena, as in all amphitheatres, the games the Roman people loved so much took place; there were fights between the gladiators, against ferocious animals from far-off lands and, perhaps even sea battles. After the fall of the Roman Empire the Arena was used for entertainments of every kind; funfairs, tournaments, jousting in Medieval times; sporting competitions, performances where animals were used and even hot balloon ascents during the following centuries. In 1913 a lyric opera was presented here for the first time - the Aida by Giuseppe Verdi - and from then onwards countless shows and operas have been held here every summer, making it the biggest open air lyric opera theatre in the world. If you are curious to see what the Arena looks like inside then come on in with us! If, on the other hand you want to stretch your legs and run around for a bit then the gardens in the middle of the square shaded by ancient trees are all yours!. You can climb up on to the pedestal base of the statue of Vittorio Emanuele 11 or else run around the fountain (the little island in the middle of the fountain represents the Alps, and was a gift to Verona from the Bavarian city of Munich). If what you d like is to do some shopping, or even just a bit of window shopping, then try going down the most elegant street in Verona which begins just beside the Arena and is like a continuation of the Liston. It is called Via Mazzini, (via means street or road) and is a long, old and narrow pedestrian area, famous throughout Europe and flanked by beautiful buildings housing some of the loveliest shops in town. It is almost always crowded both with tourists and the local Veronese people who meet up here to admire and to be admired as they greet each other and chat. The oldest inhabitants still call it by its original name of Via Nuova (New Street). As you are walking along Via Mazzini take a look at the pavement which was completed a few years ago using a local stone that is known worldwide by the name of pink Veronese marble. Try going down one of the side
roads which cross this thoroughfare at regular intervals and where you can discover other great shops, old buildings and friendly bars where you can have something to drink. If you look carefully then you will realise that all the roads that cross Via Mazzini do so at right angles, as do most of the streets in the historical centre, forming a kind of chessboard. This is because they still follow almost exactly the same pattern as the streets in Roman times! If you would like a better idea of what the streets looked like in Roman times then look for the bronze slab that you will find at the far end of Via Mazzini just before you get to Piazza Erbe (Herb Square). Here you will find a plan of the city centre as it used to be during the 1 st century b.c.! Just a few more steps and here we are directly in Piazza delle Erbe. Just what do you think this name means? In the past the word erbe which today means herbs used to include fruit, vegetables, flowers and plants, all of which used to be sold in the market stalls. And even nowadays, during the week this square ( the central part of which is called the toloneo ) is invaded by huge white umbrellas and wooden stands which offer not only herbs but also other foodstuffs, wicker baskets and straw hats, as well as vast quantities of souvenirs. Carry on down to the left and stop in front of the huge crenellated building called the Domus Mercatorum which used to be the commercial centre during the Middle Ages, and even then if anyone tried to cheat.. they were thrown into jail! Look all around you.. the square is a long narrow shape and more or less corresponds to the ancient Roman forum. Some of the overlooking buildings are really beautiful and two towers rise defiantly amongst the rooftops. To your left is the Gardello Tower built for Cansignorio della Scala in the second half of the fourteenth century and made of terracotta bricks. Once upon a time it used to contain an extraordinary bell which can now be seen close-up in the Castelvecchio Museum. To the right of the tower is the Maffei Palace born in 1668 and proudly showing off its sculpted decorations and the row of statues that crown its high wall. Just in front is the really tall column bearing the winged lion who is reading a good book. and whom you will surely recognise as being the Lion of Saint Mark s reminding the Veronese of their long period spent under Venetian dominion. The other, higher and more imposing tower in the square is the Lamberti Tower which belonged to an ancient Veronese family. If you have time then you can climb it (it s 84 metres high!) and enjoy an incredible view over the city. The tower is built of alternating red bricks and white stone, and its
mighty clock tells us to hurry up, it s late! every time its sonorous chimes ring out. Let s go back now to the middle of the square where we can find the monument that, for many local people is the symbol of Verona: the Madonna Verona fountain, once again commissioned by Cansignorio della scala towards the end of the fourteenth century. If you look at the fountain in detail then you can hardly fail to notice certain curious features. The female figure ( Madonna was the word used them for all women of noble birth) does actually look a bit strange: her richly draping robes remind us of a wealthy lady from ancient Roman times, whilst at the same time her arms holding a metal scroll, her serene expression and her crown are reminiscent of many Medieval statues of saints. In fact, what happened is that the entire fountain is the result of a wonderful collage operation! Even the marble pool comes from an ancient Roman thermal baths, and the masked-shaped spouts which shoot out water were sculpted during the Middle Ages to commemorate famous Veronese kings through the ages. One of these is probably Vero, the legendary founder of the City. This fountain actually represents the fusion of the Medieval city with that of the Roman town that preceded it. Why don t you close your eyes for a moment and try out an experiment. If you are lucky, and there s no noise of traffic, then see if you can hear the same gurgling of water, the voices and the sounds that animated the square in 1300 and in the following centuries. Plenty of famous poets and painters have tried the same experiment and then produced amazing results. Angelo Dall Oca Bianca and Berto Barbarani (who both lived between the end of the 19th and the beginning of the 20th centuries) were friends who shared the same passionate love of their home town of Verona. Each one honoured Verona in his own way with colours and with poetry praising and singing of the beauties of its squares, its monuments, its streets, and.its beautiful women! While you re still in the square, there are plenty of other interesting and curious discoveries to be made: There is a pillory, or the stocks to be found; also a kind of marble structure that was used in the inauguration celebrations for the city governors or podestà. A little bit further down you can find the market column which was raised in 1401 and surmounted by an aedicule which carried the Verona coat of arms. If you look carefully
you can see the Veronese commercial measures marked in lengths on some steps and columns, such as the paving stones in the central part of the square (toloneo), which are roughly one metre long and were used to measure exactly how much each stall should pay according to space they occupied. If you like you can try to work out some of the rents, and then you could ask the present-day stall owners how much it costs nowadays. One thing you can t possibly miss if you take a last look around the square is the amazingly beautiful coloured frescoes on the walls of the Mazzanti houses, and which serve to remind us that in 1500 Verona was famous for being a painted city as almost all the dwellings had their front walls brightly painted with frescoes that passers-bye could see and admire. Nowadays you can get an idea of what it must have been like by visiting the Fresco Museum (Museo degli Affreschi) at Juliet s tomb. Now, what about leaving the square, passing, as you do so under the Costa Arch where you will be astounded to see a whalebone rib hanging above you. The Veronese inhabitants are used by now to seeing this bizarre decoration which, over the centuries has become part of the urban furniture. You will also be surprised at the difference between the lively noise and bustle in Piazza Erbe and the silent elegance of the Piazza dei Signori where it almost seems as though you are going into some important person s private sitting room. A lot of the buildings around here are crenellated, and the walls have the by-now-familiar typical alternating red brick and white stone which was so popular in Medieval times. Do you feel as though you are being watched? If you raise your eyes you will discover that many of the statues are eying you up from above, while, to the left and above another archway there is the statue of Girolamo Fracastoro holding a globe in his hand, and which, tradition says, he will let fall on the first honest man who walks beneath! The beautiful building to the right, called Frà Gioconda s Loggia was built at the end of the fifteenth century and is surmounted by five statues, all of illustrious Veronese celebrities from ancient Roman times who luckily all seem to be fairly lost in their own thoughts and not much inclined to play tricks on anyone. In the middle of the square there is a cloaked and thoughtful figure who seems to be asking himself: What will become of us? It is Dante Alighieri, the great fourteenth century Florentine poet. Nowadays Dante is remembered as being the sublime poet, or rather, the greatest poet of all time: his most famous work is without doubt The Divine Comedy which narrates the story of his imaginary
journey to the Afterlife divided into Hell, Purgatory and Paradise. One strange thing is that the poet took care to allocate all his acquaintances in one or the other of these three places, sometimes wisely, and sometimes simply according to his own personal likes and dislikes. However a special place was reserved for Cangrande 1 della Scala, Lord of Verona to whom Paradise was dedicated. Dante had good reason to be grateful to Verona as, after being forced to flee from Florence he was welcomed and protected by the powerful noble lords of the della Scala family who actually lived here in this square, and dominated not only Verona but also the nearby cities. It was thanks to his close friendship with Cangrande 1, whose palace was at the far end of the square that Dante is shown still strolling here. (If you wish to find out more about Cangrande 1 then go to Itinerary ) This traffic-free square is also an ideal place to go for a good run there are plenty of great hidden places to explore. First thing then is to identify the ancient Roman road that runs beneath Piazza Dante (at right angles to the crenellated Scala tower) which you can actually walk along for a short distance, and is then visible through the viewing panel in the road above. Both the courtyard of the Comune Palace containing the magnificent monumental Staircase of Justice to climb up, and the courtyard of the nearby Tribunal Palace are reached through Piazza Dante. Here you will find another viewing pane which allows you to get a glimpse of the several-metre-deep archaeological area excavated about twenty years ago. The Roman, Longobard and Medieval remains that were found were so interesting that the authorities decided to create a special time travel trail open to the public. If you want to find out more then go in to the Scala Excavations (Scavi Scaligeri) where you can see the ancient remains at close quarters and, at the same time enjoy one of the many photographic exhibitions that this site houses during the course of the year. Today s programme together ends here.. We will leave you to rest under the shade of a secular Gingko Biloba tree in the nearby Piazza Viviani which was once a huge garden belonging to the della Scala family. We ll see you again soon for another day together to discover Verona. Arrivederci!