Page 202 - (DK Eyewitness) Travel Guide - Venice & The Veneto

200  THE VENE T O AREA B Y AREA

Central Verona can be had by climbing
the 84-m (275-ft) Torre dei
The streets of this ancient city centre owe their grid-like Lamberti, which rises from the
layout to the order and precision of the Romans. At the heart western side of the courtyard.
is the lively Piazza delle Erbe, where crowds shop in the Behind the statue of Dante is
ancient marketplace. The fine palazzi, churches and the pretty Renaissance Loggia
monuments date mostly from the medieval period. del Consiglio, or council
chamber, with its frescoed upper
façade (1493) and statues of
Roman worthies born in Verona,
including Catullus the poet, Pliny
the natural historian and Vitruvius
the architectural theorist.
The piazza is linked to Piazza
Erbe by the Arco della Costa, or
the arch of the rib, whose name
refers to the whale rib hung
beneath it, put up here as a
curiosity in the distant past.
R Santa Maria Antica
This tiny Romanesque church is
An elegant café in the spacious Piazza dei Signori almost swamped by the bizarre
Scaligeri tombs built up against
P Piazza delle Erbe In the centre of Piazza dei its entrance wall. Because Santa
Once the site of the Roman Signori is a 19th-century statue Maria Antica was their parish
forum, Piazza delle Erbe is named of Dante, who surveys the church, the Scaligeri rulers of
after the city’s old herb market. surrounding buildings with an Verona chose to be buried here,
Today’s stalls, shaded by huge appraising eye. His gaze is fixed and their tombs speak of their
umbrellas, sell everything on the grim Palazzo del military prowess (see p213).
from vegetables and Capitano, home Over the entrance to the
lunchtime snacks to of Verona’s military church is the impressive tomb
clothes and souvenirs. commander, and the of Cangrande I, or Big Dog
The Venetian lion equally intimidating (d.1329), topped by his
that stands on top of Palazzo della Ragione, equestrian statue. This statue
a column to the north the Palace of Reason, is a copy; the original is now
of the square marks or law court, both built in the Castelvecchio (see p195).
Vero na’s absorption in in the 14th century. The other Scaligeri tombs are
1405 into the Venetian On the first floor of the next to the church, surrounded
empire. The statue- Palazzo della Ragione by an intricate wrought-iron
topped build ing that Stonework detail, is the Galleria d’Arte fence featuring the ladder
completes the north Piazza dei Signori Moderna Achille Forti, motif of the family’s original
end of Piazza Erbe is the a private collection of name (della Scala, meaning
Baroque Palazzo Maffei (1668), Veronese art ranging from 1840 “of the steps”). Towering above
now converted to shops and to 1940. Fine views of the Alps the fence are the spire-topped
luxury apartments.
The fountain that splashes
away quietly in the middle of
the piazza is often overlooked
amid the competing attractions
of the market’s colourful stalls.
Yet the statue at the fountain’s
centre dates from Roman times,
a reminder that this long piazza
has been in almost continuous
use as a marketplace for some
2,000 years.

P Piazza dei Signori
GAM Achille Forti: Palazzo della
Ragione Tel 045 800 1903. Open
10am–6pm Tue–Fri, 11am–7pm Sat &
Sun. Torre dei Lamberti: Tel 045 927 30
27. Open 8:30am–7:30pm daily. & The fountain in Piazza Erbe, erected in the 14th century

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