Page 198 - (DK Eyewitness) Travel Guide - Venice & The Veneto

196  THE VENE T O AREA B Y AREA

Around the Arena There are many carved funerary
monuments, and a large part of
Most visitors to Verona first arrive at Piazza Brà, a large, the collection consists of Greek
irregularly shaped square with a public garden. On the north inscriptions collected by the
side is an archway known as the Portoni della Brà. Dominating museum’s 18th-century
the eastern side of the piazza is the Roman Arena, Verona’s founder, Scipione Maffei.
most important monument, still in use today for operatic R San Fermo Maggiore
performances. The piazza is ringed with Stradone San Fermo. Tel 045 59 28 13.
19th-century buildings resembling ancient Open Mar–Oct: 10am–6pm Mon–Sat,
temples and historical landmarks. 1–6pm Sun; Nov–Feb: 10am–5pm
Mon–Sat, 1–5pm Sun. & ^
∑ chieseverona.it
San Fermo Maggiore consists of
not one but two churches. This
can best be appreciated from
the outside, where the eastern
end is a jumble of rounded
Romanesque arches below with
Ponte Scaligero, part of the old defence system of Castelvecchio pointed Gothic arches rising
above. The lower church, now
T Ponte Scaligero Continuing up Corso Cavour, rather dank due to frequent
This medieval bridge was built there are some fine medieval flooding, dates from 1065, but
by Cangrande II between 1354 and Renaissance palaces to see the upper church (1313) is more
and 1376. The people of Verona (especially Nos. 10, 11 and 19) impressive. It has a splendid
love to stroll across it to ponder before the Roman town gate, ship’s-keel roof and lots of
the River Adige in all its moods, the Porta dei Borsari, medieval fresco work.
or to admire summer sunsets is reached. The gate Frescoes from the
and distant views of the Alps. dates from the 14th century, just
Such is their affection for the 1st century BC, inside the main door,
bridge that it was rebuilt after but looking at are by Stefano de
the retreating Germans blew the pedimented Zevico. They show
it up in 1945, an operation that windows and niches the fate of four
involved dredging the river to it is easy to see what Franciscan
salvage the medieval masonry. influenced the city’s missionaries who
The bridge leads from Castel- Renaissance journeyed to India in
vecchio (see p195) to the architects. The Roman Arco dei Gavi, the mid-14th century.
Arsenal on the north bank of 1st century AD Nearby is the
the Adige, built by the Austrians E Museo Lapidario Brenzoni mausoleum
between 1840 and 1861 and Maffeiano (1439) by Giovanni di Bartolo,
now fronted by public gardens. Piazza Brà 28. Tel 045 590 087. Open with Pisanello’s Annunciation
Looking back from the gardens 8:30am–2pm Tue–Sun. Closed 1 Jan, fresco (1426). In the south aisle
it is possible to see how the 25 & 26 Dec. & is an ornate pulpit of 1396
river was used as a natural moat This “museum of stone” displays with saints in canopied niches
to defend the castle, with the all kinds of architectural above, surrounded by frescoes
bridge providing the inhabitants fragments hinting at the last of the Evangelists and
with an escape route. splendour of the Roman city. Doctors of the Church.
T Arco dei Gavi and
Corso Cavour
Dwarfed by the massive brick
walls of Castelvecchio, the
monumental scale of this
Roman triumphal arch is now
hard to appreciate. Originally the
arch straddled the main Roman
road into the city, today’s Corso
Cavour. But French troops who
were occupying Castelvecchio in
1805 damaged the monument
so much that a decision was
made to move it to its present,
less conspicuous position just
off the Corso in 1933. The apse of the lower church of San Fermo Maggiore

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