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VERONA
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VERONA , a See also:city and episcopal see of See also:Venetia, See also:Italy, the See also:capital of the See also:province of Verona, situated 194 ft. above See also:sea-level in a See also:loop made by the winding of the See also:Adige (anc. Athesis). Pop. (1906) 61,618 (See also:town); 79,574 (See also:commune). It is 93 M. E. of See also:Milan and 71 M. W. of See also:Venice by See also:rail, and is also the point of departure of the See also:main lines to See also:Mantua and See also:Modena and to the See also:Brenner, while a See also:branch See also:line runs N.W. to Caprino, another S.E.
to See also:Legnago, and See also:steam tramways to Cologna Veneta, Coriano and S. Giacomo.
The See also:basilica of S. See also:Zeno (an See also:early See also:bishop of Verona who became its See also:patron See also:saint), which stands outside the See also:ancient city, is one Churches. of the most interesting Romanesque churches in Italy.
The See also: The nave, dating from the 11th See also:century, is supported by alternate columns and pillars, and contains frescoes of the 11th-14th centuries. The cloisters of S. Zeno, rebuilt in 1123, are an interesting example of See also:brick and See also:marble construction. Like many other churches in Verona, S. Zeno is mainly built of mixed brick and See also: The campanile by See also:Sanmichele is unfinished. Its See also:baptistery, rebuilt early in the 12th century , is a quite See also:separate building, with nave and See also:apse, forming a church dedicated to S. Giovanni in Fonte. Pope See also:Lucius III., who held a See also:council at Verona in 1184, is buried in the cathedral, under the See also:pavement before the high See also:altar. The Dominican church of S. Anastasia is a mine of See also:wealth in early examples of See also:painting and sculpture, and one of the finest buildings in Italy of semi-See also:Gothic See also:style. It consists of a nave in six bays, aisles, transepts, each with two eastern chapels, and an apse, all vaulted with See also:simple quadripartite brick groining. It was begun in 1261, but not completed till 1422, and is specially remarkable for its very beautiful and See also:complete See also:scheme of coloured decoration, much of which is contemporary with the building. The vaults are See also:grace-fully painted with floreated bands along the ribs and central patterns in each " See also:cell," in rich soft See also:colours on a white plastered ground. The eastern portion of the vaulting, including the choir and one See also:bay of the nave, has the older and simpler decorations; the rest of the nave has more elaborate painted See also:ornament—foliage mixed with figures of Dominican See also:saints, executed in the 15th century. There are many fine frescoes in the interior ranging from c. 1300 (knights kneeling before the Virgin) to the 15th century, including Pisanello's beautiful painting of St See also:George (mentioned below). This church also contains a large number of fine sculptured tombs of the 14th and 15th centuries, with noble See also:effigies and reliefs of saints and sacred subjects. It is mainly built of red brick, with fine nave columns of red and white marble and an elaborate marble pavement inlaid in many different patterns. Its See also:general proportions are specially noble, and the exterior view is See also:good. The church of S. See also:Fermo See also:Maggiore comes next in interest. With the exception of the crypt, which is older, the existing edifice was rebuilt in 1313. The See also:facade is of brick and marble used alternately. The See also:plan is unusual, consisting of a large nave without aisles, the span being between 45 and 50 ft.; it also has two shallow transepts and an apsidal See also:east end. The roof, which isespecially magnificent, is the finest example of a class which as a See also:rule is only found in Venetia or in churches built by Venetian architects in See also:Istria and other subject provinces: the framing is concealed by coving or See also:barrel-vaulting in See also:wood, the See also:surface of which is divided into small square panels, all painted and gilt, giving a very rich effect. In this See also:case the 14th and 15th century painted decorations are well preserved. Delicate patterns See also:cover all the framework of the panelling and fill the panels themselves; at two stages, where there is a check in the line of the coving, rows of half-figures of saints are minutely painted on See also:blue or See also:gold grounds, forming a scheme of indescribably splendid decoration. A simpler roof of the same class exists at S. Zeno; it is See also:trefoil-shaped in See also:section, with a tie-See also:beam joining the cusps. The church of S. Maria in Organo, dating from 1481, with a facade of 1592 from Sanmichele's designs, contains paintings by various Veronese masters, and some fine choir-stalls of 1499 by Fra Gioconda. Though not built till after his See also:death, the church of S. Giorgio in Braida, on the other side of the See also:river, was also designed by Sanmichele, and possesses many good pictures of the Veronese school. The Romanesque church of S. Lorenzo, re-stored in 1896--1898, contains old frescoes. S. Stefano is another Romanesque church, probably of the nth century. There are several other fine churches in Verona, some of early date. One of the 14th century is dedicated to See also: A very picturesque See also:Bridges battlemented See also:bridge leads from it to the other See also:shore, and sloping down over three arches of different sizes, the forimcslargest next to the castle and the smallest at the other pons. end. There are four other bridges across the Adige: one, the graceful See also:Ponte di Pietra, rests upon ancient See also:foundations, while the two arches nearest to the See also:left bank are See also:Roman; but it has been frequently restored. Remains of another ancient bridge were found in the river itself in 1892 behind S. Anastasia. The 16th-century lines of fortification enclose a very much larger See also:area than the Roman city, forming a See also:great loop to the west, and also including a considerable space on the left bank of the river. In the latter See also:part of the city, on a steep See also:elevation, stands the castle of St See also:Peter, originally founded by Theodoric, on the site, perhaps, of the earliest citadel, mostly rebuilt by Gian Galeazzo See also:Visconti in 1393, and dismantled by the See also:French in 18o,. This and the other fortifications of Verona were rebuilt or repaired by the Austrians, but are no longer kept up as military defences. Verona, which is the See also:chief military centre of the See also:Italian province of Venetia, is now being surrounded with a circle of forts far outside the obsolete city walls. The early palaces of Verona, before its See also:conquest by Venice, were of noble and simple See also:design, mostly built of fine red brick, with an inner See also:court, surrounded on the ground See also:floor palaces. by open arches like a cloister, as, for example, the Palazzo della Ragione, an See also:assize court, begun in the 12th century. The arches, See also:round or more often pointed in See also:form, were decorated with moulded terra-See also:cotta enrichments, and often with alternating voussoirs of marble. The Scaligeri See also:Palace is a fine example, dating from the 14th century, with, in the cortile, an See also:external See also:staircase leading to an upper loggia, above the usual See also:arcade on the ground floor. It has a lofty campanile, surmounted by a graceful octagonal upper See also:storey. This palace is said to have been mainly built by Can Signorio (Della Scala) about 1370. After the conquest by Venice the domestic buildings of Verona assumed quite a different type. They became feeble copies of Venetian palaces, in which one form of window, with an See also:ogee See also:arch, framed by the See also:dentil moulding, is almost always used. The monotony and lifelessness of this form of See also:architecture are shown in the meaningless way in which details, suited only to the Venetian methods of veneering walls with thin marble slabs, are copied in the solid marbles of Verona. From the skill of Fra Giocondo, Verona was for many years one of the chief centres in which the most refined and graceful forms of the early See also:Renaissance were See also:developed. The town See also: The See also:house of the painter Niccolo Giolfino still has its frescoes in a good See also:state of preservation, and gives a vivid notion of what must once have been the effect of these gorgeous pictured palaces. The episcopal palace contains the ancient and valuable See also:chapter library, of about 12,000 volumes and over 500 See also:MSS., among them the See also:palimpsest of the Institutions of See also:Gaius which See also:Niebuhr discovered. The Piazza delle Erbe (See also:fruit and See also:vegetable See also:market) Squares. and the Piazza dei Signori, adjoining one another in the See also:oldest part of the city, are very picturesque and beautiful, being surrounded by many fine medieval buildings, several of them of a public See also:character (Palazzo dei Giureconsulti, Palazzo della Ragione and the lofty Torre Civica, 273 ft. high), while in the north-east corner of the latter Piazza is the fine early Renaissance Palazzo del Consiglio (1476-1492), probably designed by Fra Giocondo. In the former Piazza a copy of the See also:lion of Venice has been erected. The Roman remains of Verona surpass those of any other city of northern Italy. The most conspicuous of them •s the great See also:amphitheatre, a building perhaps of the end of the 1st century A.D., which in general form closely resembled the Colosseum in See also:Rome. Its axes measured 505 and 404 ft. Almost the whole of its external arcades, with three tiers of arches, have now disappeared; it was partly thrown down by an See also:earthquake in 1184, and subsequently used to See also:supply building materials. Many of its blocks are still visible in the walls of various medieval buildings. The interior, with seats for about 25,000 See also:people, has been frequently restored, till nothing of the old seats exists. There are also remains of a well-preserved Roman See also:theatre, close to the left bank of the river. A number of fine sculptures were found in the square in front of the cathedral in 1890, and architectural fragments belonging to some public building. In 1884–86 portions of a number of fine See also:mosaic pavements were discovered extending over a very large area under the cloister and other parts of the cathedral, about 7 ft. below the See also:present ground level. They had geometric patterns with birds, trees, &c., and See also:bore See also:inscriptions in mosaic with the names of the donors. Parts of them had been discovered previously. They seem to belong to two different buildings, both early churches of the 5th and 6th centuries A.D. (cf. Notizie degli Scavi, 1884, 401). For the two triumphal arches (Porta dei Bosari and Porta dei Leoni) see below. The Museo Lapidario contains a fine collection of Roman and See also:Etruscan inscriptions and sculpture, mostly collected and published by Scipione See also:Maffei in the 18th century. Veronese See also:Art.—In many respects the resemblance between Verona and See also:Florence is very striking; in both cases we have a strongly fortified city built in a fertile valley, on the See also:banks of a winding river, with suburbs on higher ground, rising close above the main city. In architectural magnificence and in wealth of sculpture and painting Verona almost rivalled the Tuscan city, and, like it, gave See also:birth to a very large number of artists who distinguished themselves in all branches of the fine arts. Painting in Verona may be divided into four periods. (i.) The first period is characterized by wall paintings of purely native style, painting. closely resembling the early See also:Christian pictures in the cata- combs of Rome. Examples dating from the loth to the 11th century have been discovered hidden by whitewash on the oldest parts of the nave walls of the church of S. Zeno. They are a very interesting survival of the almost classical, Roman style of painting, and appear to be quite See also:free from the generally prevalent See also:whiting, See also:influence. (ii.) The See also:Byzantine period seems to have i The valuable collection of See also:works of art once preserved in the Bevilacqua Palace has See also:long been dispersed.lasted during the 12th and 13th centuries. (iii.) The Giottesque period begins contemporaneously with Altichiero da Zevio and Giacomo degli Avanzi, whose chief works were executed during the second half of the 14th century. These two painters were among the ablest of See also:Giotto's followers, and adorned Verona and Padua with a number of very beautiful frescoes, rich in See also:composition, delicate in See also:colour, and remarkable for their highly finished modelling and detail. (iv.) To the See also:fourth period belong several important painters. Pisanello or Vittore See also:Pisano, a charming painter and the greatest medallist of Italy, was probably a See also:pupil of Altichiero.' Most of his frescoes in Verona have perished; but one of great beauty still exists in a very perfect state in the church of S. Anastasia, high up over the arched opening into one of the eastern chapels of the south See also:transept. The See also:scene represents St George and the Princess after the conquest of the See also:Dragon, with See also:accessory figures, the sea, a mountainous landscape and an elaborately painted city in the back-ground. The only other existing fresco by Pisanello is an See also:Annunciation in S. Fermo Maggiore. For Pisanello's pupils and other painters of subsequent date, see PAINTING. These include Liberale da Verona, Domenico and See also:Francesco See also:Morone, See also:Girolamo dai Libri (1474–1556), &c. Domenico del Riccio, usually nicknamed Brusasorci (1494–1567), was a prolific painter whose works are very numerous in Verona. See also:Paolo Cagliari or See also:Paul Veronese, and the Bonifagios, though natives of Verona, belong rather to the Venetian school. Verona is specially rich in early examples of decorative sculpture. (i.) The first period is that of northern or Lombardic influence, exemplified in the very interesting See also:series of reliefs which Scutp- cover the western facades of the church of S. Zeno and the tore. cathedral, dating from the 12th •century. These reliefs represent both sacred subjects and scenes of See also:war and See also:hunting, mixed with See also:grotesque monsters, such as specially delighted the See also:rude, vigorous nature of the See also:Lombards; they are all richly decorative in effect, though See also:strange and unskilful in detail. Part of the western See also:bronze doors of S. Zeno are especially interesting as being among the earliest important examples in Italy of See also:cast bronze reliefs. They are frequently stated to be of beaten bronze, but they are really castings, apparently by the cire perdue See also:process. They represent scenes from the life of S. Zeno, are rudely modelled, and yet very dramatic and sculpturesque in style. Parts of these doors are covered with bronze reliefs of scenes from the See also:Bible, which are of still earlier date, and were probably brought to Verona from the See also:Rhine provinces. Many of the 12th century reliefs and sculptured capitals in S. Zeno are signed by the sculptor but these merely constitute lists of names about whom nothing is known. (ii.) In the 13th century the sculpture seems to have lost the Lombard vigour, without acquiring any qualities of See also:superior grace or refinement. The See also:font in the baptistery near the cathedral is an early example of this. Each side of the octagon is covered with a large See also:relief of a Biblical subject, very dull in style and coarse in See also:execution. The font itself is interesting for its early form, one See also:common in the chief baptisteries of northern Italy: like an See also:island in the centre of the great octagonal tank is a lobed marble receptacle, in which the officiating See also:priest stood while he immersed the catechumens. A movable wooden bridge must have been used to enable the priest to See also:cross the See also:water in the surrounding tank. (iii.) The next period is that of Florentine influence. This is exemplified in the magnificently sculptured tombs of the Della. Scala lords, designed with steadily growing splendour, from the simple See also:sarcophagus of Martino I. down to the elaborate erection over the See also:tomb of the fratricide Can Signorio, adorned with statuettes of the virtues, to the See also:possession of which he could See also:lay so little claim.' The recumbent effigies and decorative details of these tombs are very beautiful, but the smaller figures of angels, saints and virtues are rather clumsy in proportion. The latest tomb, that of Can Signorio, erected during his lifetime V. 1370), is signed " Boninus de Campigliono Mediolanensis Dioecesis." This sculptor, though of Milanese origin, belongs really to the school of the Florentine See also:Andrea Pisano. One characteristic of the 14th and 15th centuries in Verona was the See also:custom, also followed in other Lombardic cities, of setting large equestrian statues over the tombs of powerful military leaders, in some cases above the recumbent effigy of the dead See also:man, as if to represent him in full vigour of life as well as in death. That which crowns the See also:canopy over the tomb of Can Grande is a very noble, though somewhat See also:quaint, See also:work. (iv.) In the 15th century the influence of Venice became See also:paramount, though this was really only a further development of the Florentine manner, Venice itself having been directly influenced in the 14th century by many able sculptors from Florence. The architecture of Verona, like its sculpture, passed through Lombard, Florentine and Venetian stages. (i.) The church of S. Zeno and the cathedral, both of which were mainly rebuilt Anchi- in the 12th century, are noble examples of the Lombardic tecture. style, with few single-light windows, and with the walls decorated externally by series of pilasters, and by alternating bands of red and white, in stone or brick. The arches of this period are '- There is every See also:reason to doubt See also:Vasari's statement that Pisanello was a pupil of Andrea del See also:Castagno. 3 See an eloquent description by See also:Ruskin, Stones of Venice, iii. pp. 70 seq. Roman remains. semicircular and rest on round columns and capitals, richly carved with grotesque figures and foliage. Most of the external ornamentation is usually concentrated on the western front, which often has a lofty arched See also:porch on marble columns, resting on griffins or lions devouring their See also:prey. (ii.) The Florentine period (c. 1250 to 1400) is represented by the church of S. Anastasia, and by many more or less mutilated palaces, with fine courts surrounded by arcades in one or more storeys. The arches are mostly pointed, and in other respects the influence of northern Gothic was more See also:direct in Verona than in Florence. Solidity of See also:mass and simplicity of detail are among the characteristics of this period. (iii.) The Venetian period (c. 1400–1480) was one of little originality or vigour, the buildings of this date being largely rather dull copies of those at Venice. (iv.) The early Renaissance developed into very exceptional beauty in Verona, mainly through the See also:genius of Fra Giocondo (1435–1514), a native of Verona, who was at first a See also:friar in the monastery of S. Maria in Organo. He See also:rose to great celebrity as an architect, and designed many graceful and richly sculptured buildings in Venice, Rome and even in See also:France; he used classical forms with great See also:taste and skill, and with much of the freedom of the older medieval architects, and was specially remarkable for his rich and delicate sculptured decorations. Another of the leading architects of the next See also:stage of the Renaissance was the Veronese Michele Sanmichele (1484–1559), a great military engineer, and designer of an immense number of magnificent palaces in Verona and other cities of Venetia. His buildings are stately and graceful in proportion, but show a tendency towards dull scholastic classicism. The facades of his palaces were in the See also:lower storey only decorated by See also:rustication, of which he made great use, while the upper part was intended to be decorated with frescoes, which (as we have said) have in most cases perished. To him are also due the various See also:gates and the most important bastions in the walls of Verona. In consequence of the disastrous See also:flood of 1882, important See also:embankment works were executed along the Adige at a cost of £300,000. These works preclude all danger of future inundation. In addition to the Adige embankment, other See also:hydraulic works have been either completed or undertaken. An See also:irrigation See also:canal, deriving water from the Sega, furnishes See also:Ill cubic metres per second to the See also:fields of the upper Veronese See also:district. The Camuzzoni See also:industrial canal, which runs from the Chievo di S. See also:Massimo to the suburb of Tombetta, furnishes 26 cubic metres of water per second, and generates 4000 See also:horse-See also:power. The cutting of this canal led to the construction of an See also:aqueduct for drinking water, which, besides supplying the city, furnishes an See also:ice factory with enough water to make 200 quintals of ice per See also:day. The See also:motive-power generated by the Camuzzoni canal is utilized by a large See also:nail factory, See also:flour See also:mills, See also:paper mills, See also:cotton mills and works for the See also:distribution of electric See also:energy. The Adige embankment gave an impetus to building enterprise, the banks of the river being now flanked by villas and large dwelling-houses. See also:History.—The ancient Verona was a town of the See also:Cenomani, a Gaulish tribe, whose chief town was Brixia. It became a Latin See also:colony in 89 B.c. and, acquiring citizenship with the rest of Gallis Transpadana in 49 B.C., became a See also:municipium. See also:Tacitus wrongly speaks of it as a colony; but it appears to have received a new colony under See also:Gallienus. In the See also:time of See also:Augustus it was inferior to See also:Patavium in importance, but on a See also:par with See also:Mediolanum, and superior to Brixia and other towns of the district. Inscriptions testify to its importance—among others one which indicates that it was the headquarters of the collectors of the 5% See also:inheritance tax under the See also:Empire in Italy beyond the Po. Its territory stretched as far as Hostilia on the Padus (Po), 30 M. to the south, and was extensive on other sides also, though its exact limits are uncertain. It was an important point in the road See also:system of the district, lying on that between Mediolanum and See also:Aquileia, while here diverged to the north the roads up the Athesis valley and over the Brenner into See also:Raetia, and to the south roads ran to Betriacum, Mantua and Hostilia. It was the birthplace of the poet See also:Catullus. In A.D. 69 it became the See also:head-quarters of the legions which were siding with See also:Vespasian. Its fertile surroundings, its central position at the junction of several great roads, and the natural strength of its position, defended by a river along two-thirds of its circumference, all combined to make Verona one of the richest and most important cities in northern Italy, although its extent within the walls was not large. The existing remains of walls and gates date from the period between the 3rd of See also:April and the 4th of See also:December of the See also:year 265. A very handsome triumphal arch, now called the Porta de' Borsari, was restored in this year by Gallienus (as the inscription upon it, which has taken the See also:place of an older one, cancelled to make See also:room for it, records), and became one ofthe city gates. It is a See also:double arch, and above it are two orders of smaller arcades. The same was the case with the Porta dei Leoni, another rather similar triumphal arch on the east of the city, and with a third arch, the Arco dei Gavi, demolished in 1805. This last seems to have belonged to the 1st century A.D.; remains of it are preserved in the amphitheatre. It took its name from the See also:family in whose See also:honour it was erected; the architect was one L. See also:Vitruvius Cerdo, possibly a pupil and freedman of the famous writer on architecture. The Porta dei Leoni, on the other See also:hand, bears the name of Tiberius Flavius Noricus, a quattuorvir iure dicundo, i.e. one of the four chief magistrates of the city (probably 2nd century A.D.). The See also:original line of walls did not include the amphitheatre, but passed N.E. of it; it was, however, afterwards included in the See also:enceinte as a See also:kind of massive corner tower.' The See also:emperor See also:Constantine, while advancing towards Rome from See also:Gaul, besieged and took Verona (312); it was here, too, that See also:Odoacer was defeated (499) by Theodoric the Goth, See also:Dietrich von See also:Bern—i.e. Verona—of See also:German legends, who built a castle at Verona and frequently resided there. He enlarged the fortified area by constructing a wall and ditch (now called Adigetto) straight across the loop, to the S.W. of the amphitheatre, and also built thermae and restored the acqueducts, which had long been out of use. In the See also:middle ages Verona gradually See also:grew in size and importance. See also:Alboin, the Lombard See also: (d. 1359) and Can Signorio (d. 1375). In 1389 Gian Galeazzo Visconti, See also:duke of Milan, became by conquest lord of Verona. Soon after his death the city See also:fell by treacherous means into the hands of Francesco II. di See also:Carrara, lord of Padua. In 1404-1405 Verona, together with Padua, was finally conquered by Venice, and remained subject to the Venetians till the overthrow of the See also:republic by See also:Napoleon in 1797, who in the same year, after the treaty of Campo Formio, ceded it to the Austrians with the rest of Venetia. They fortified it strongly in 1814, and with Peschiera, Mantua and Legnago it formed part of the famous See also:quadrilateral which until 1866 was the chief support of their rule in Italy. See the various works by Scipione Maffei (Verona Il!ustrata, 1728; Museum Veronense, 1749); and Th. See also:Mommsen in Corp. Inscr. Latin (See also:Berlin, 1883), v. p. 327 (with bibliography) ; A. Wiel, The See also:Story of Verona (See also:London, 1902); Notizie degli scavi, passim; E. Giani, L' Antico teatro di Verona (Verona, 1908). (J. H. M.; T. Additional information and CommentsThere are no comments yet for this article.
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