This is the largest piazza in Verona, with some claims that it is the largest in the country.
The piazza is lined with numerous cafés and restaurants, along with several notable buildings.
Varona Arena was built in 30 AD on a site then beyond the city walls. The ludi (shows and games) staged there were
so famous that spectators came from many other places, often far away, to witness them. While it can now host crowds
of up to 22,000, the original amphitheater could seat 30,000 spectators.The arena has been used by many contemporary
performers including Pink Floyd, Rod Stewart, Elton John, and Muse. It has also hosted numerous operas, including in
1946 Ponchielli's La Gioconda which saw the debut of Maria Callas.
Palazzo Barbieri is a Neoclassical palace which now serves as the town hall. The palace was originally named
Palazzo della Gran Guardia Nuova, and housed staff associated with the occupying Austrian Army forces. It was designed
by Giuseppe Barbieri and was later named in his honor. Construction began in 1836 and was completed by 1848. The
interiors contain a large canvas (1595) by Felice Brusasorzi depicting the victory of the Veronese over Benacensi in
the year 829. A 14th-century fresco depicting a Crucifixion and the Madonna from a private house was implated into the
wall near the entrance. One room has tapestries from the 16th century. One designed by Paolo Farinati depicts the 1164
Victory of the Veronese against Frederick Barbarossa, the Holy Roman Emperor.
Palazzo della Gran Guardia was the first building erected on the southern edge of Bra. It was originally designed by
Domenico Curtoni as a roof built from the existing wall out to several pillars. Leonardo Donato, 90th Doge of Venice,
had requested an area for troops to shelter in poor weather. Work commenced in 1610 but stopped when there was a shortfall
in available funds. Nearly 200 years later, in 1808, architect Giuseppe Barbier was commissioned to design and complete
the project but it was a further 45 years before it was finished.
Stop 2: The Arco dei Gavi
The arch was built in the first half of the first century at the beginning of the Via Postumia, just outside
the Roman walls of the city. Built to celebrate the gens Gavia, a noble Roman family who had their hometown in Verona, the Arco
dei Gavi is a very rare example of a privately funded monumental Roman arch. The arch no longer stands in its original position,
as it was demolished by French military engineers in 1805, however, the numerous surveys that had previously been produced made
it possible to reassemble it using as much of the original elements as possible, a process completed in 1932. Subsequently, it
was relocated to the small square of Piazzetta Castelvecchio, where it is still located today.
This is the most important military construction of the Scaliger dynasty that ruled Verona in the Middle
Ages. The castle stands on the probable location of a Roman fortress outside the Roman city. Lord Cangrande II della Scala
had it built along with its bridge across the Adige River as a deterrent to his powerful neighbors such as Venice, the
Gonzaga and the Sforza families. Construction was carried out between 1354 and 1376. The fortified bridge was intended to
allow the seigniors to escape safely northwards to the Tyrol in the event of a rebellion or a coup d'état (the Scaligeri
were allies of the Holy Roman Empire) and when they eventually lost their hold on Verona, its surviving members left Italy
to found a German branch of the family. Later, during the Venetian domination, the bridge was further fortified to defend
it with cannons. The castle was damaged by French troops during the Napoleonic Wars (1796-7), in retaliation to the Pasque
Veronesi, when the local population staged a violent anti-French revolt. Napoleon had chosen to stay in Castelvecchio on his
trips to Verona, but his widespread and arbitrary requisitions of citizens' and churches' property and the massive draft of
male workers into the French army prompted the resistance that eventually drove out the invaders. The bridge was destroyed by
the retreating German army in 1945 and rebuilt in 1949.
Stop 4: Piazza San Zeno
The Basilica of San Zeno, the abbey tower of San Zeno and the Curch of San Procolo all overlook this square.
The Basilica of San Zeno is one of the masterpieces of Romanesque architecture in Italy. The site where the basilica would later
be built was originally a Roman and early Christian cemetery area near the Via Gallica, where Verona's bishop Zeno, the city's
patron saint, was also buried, and on which a church and a monastic community were built. The building was rebuilt in the early
9th century at the behest of Bishop Ratoldo and the king of Italy Pepin, who judged it inconvenient for the body of the patron saint
to rest in a poor church, so, with the help of Archdeacon Pacifico, a new basilica was built to which the saint's body could be
transferred, which was completed and consecrated in 806. The building underwent several reconstructions due to the Hungarian invasions
and the earthquake of 1117, so its final appearance in Lombard Romanesque style derives from major works carried out over the
centuries, while still keeping the medieval layout substantially unchanged. The church houses several works of art, including a
masterpiece by Andrea Mantegna, the San Zeno altarpiece, the famous portal with its bronze panels, and the large rose window on the
facade, called the "Wheel of Fortune," by the stone mason Brioloto de Balneo.
San Procolo is a Paleo-Christian, Roman Catholic small temple. A chapel or temple at this site was built at the site of an Ancient
Roman cemetery from the 5th or 6th century, putatively above the tomb of Saint Proculus (310-330), the fourth bishop of Verona. There
are documents citing the church from the 9th century, and authors that note the church was burnt during a Hungarian invasion in 924.
The structures we see today are the result of exterior reconstructions in the 12th century after the 1117 Verona earthquake, and
interior reconstructions in the 16th century. Inside the church a staircase leads to the ancient crypt.