In the collective imagination of the most beautiful squares in Italy, the images of Piazza di Spagna in Rome, Piazza del Campo in Siena, Piazza Unità d’Italia in Trieste, Piazza dei Miracoli in Pisa, Piazza del Duomo in Milan, Piazza San Marco in Venice, Piazza Plebiscito in Naples stand out.
Piazza delle Erbe cannot be left out of this listthe oldest in Verona, which is located above the area of the Roman Forum and which still retains the appearance of a medieval square. The Venetian city is one of the most beautiful in Italy and for some years one of the most visited in the Peninsula.
Founded in the 2nd century BC.Verona obtained Roman citizenship in the middle of the 1st century AD, becoming an important centre of northern Italy, as attested by the great monuments that still remind us of the prestige and pomp of the empire. The Verona Arena, which could hold up to twenty thousand spectators, was the third largest amphitheatre after the Colosseum and the one in Capua. The Theatre built on the left bank of the Adige during the reign of Augustus, the Gavi Arch built in the 1st century BC to glorify the important family, the Stone Bridge (pons marmoreus) which still preserves two original arches are among the monuments that remind us of the Roman origins of the city.
Verona is known throughout the world not only for its Roman characterbut also because it was celebrated by two great literary geniuses such as Dante and Shakespeare. When Dante left the White Guelphs, before they tried to return to Florence with weapons and force and were ruinously defeated at La Lastra (1304), he first found hospitality in Verona with Bartolomeo della Scala, as Cacciaguida prophesies in Canto XVII of Paradiso:
Your first refuge and your first hostel
it will be the courtesy of the great Lombard
which carries the holy bird up the ladder;
who will have such benign regard for you,
that of doing and asking, between the two of you,
that which is most late among the others will be first.
The coat of arms of Bartolomeo della Scala presents a ladder with the imperial eagle, since the lord of Verona had married a great-granddaughter of Emperor Frederick II. Bartolomeo, lord of the city from 1301 to 1304, will be so courteous with Dante, Cacciaguida prophesies, that the poet will often see his needs answered before he has expressed them, just as in Paradise the saints resolve his doubts without him having expressed them. In reality, Dante was probably not very gratified by the relationship with the lord. The extremely flattering judgment expressed by the great poet is due to the fact that when Dante composed these cantos he was again in Verona where Dante was welcomed by Cangrande della Scala, of whom Cacciaguida sings the praises. Still young, Cangrande della Scala had not yet been able to show people his value coming from the planet Mars (the warrior virtue), but, having become an adult, he would have revealed it so much that his deeds would have been extraordinary. Having become sole lord of Verona in 1312, he died in 1329. He was Dante’s protector probably from 1316 to 1319.
Cangrande was a patron of poets and artists. He had invited Giotto to Verona and had financed architects to give a new face to the city. Thanks to him, Verona was cheered by shows and theatrical performances. Cangrande was a supporter of the emperor Henry VII and a promoter of that emperor who, after the latter’s death, would take on the responsibility of the imperial project in Italy. For this reason, many commentators saw in Cangrande the fulfillment of the prophecy of the greyhound at the end of Canto I of theInferno.
A Verona Dante established a strong bond with the Churches of San Fermo, Sant’Anastasia and Sant’Eufemia. In San Fermo there were the Franciscans, so dear to the poet that Canto XI of the Paradiso conveys all his esteem for the Poverello of Assisi and the order he founded. Near the church stand the tombs of some descendants of Alighieri. Some scholars have even hypothesized that Dante was a Franciscan tertiary.
In Sant’Eufemia, near the agostinianiDante was able to use their books in the rich and valuable library. In the Church of Sant’Elena, in 1320, Dante gave the speech The question of water and land in which he gave news about the vision of the Earth at that time.
And’other church in Verona that cannot be forgotten it is the Cathedral of San Zeno, on whose facade you can see the rose window with the image of the goddess Fortuna described by Dante in the second part of Canto VII of theInferno. The Cathedral of San Zeno returns once again to the cradle of the slothful in Purgatory where the abbot of San Zeno is found at the time of Emperor Frederick Barbarossa. He reveals that Alberto della Scala will soon regret having abused his power by appointing his corrupt and illegitimate son Giuseppe as abbot of that monastery. The Cathedral of San Zeno could also have been the inspiration for theInferno, because the figures found on the bronze portal recall damned souls.
There is not only the Roman Verona to admire or the Dantean one, but also the Shakespearean one.ihewhich all tourists notice because of the long queues as soon as they approach the courtyard of Juliet’s house in via Cappello. The Capulet coat of arms stands out on the entrance arch of the museum house reconstructed with rooms typical of the period. Near Juliet’s house is Romeo’s. And a few minutes away you can visit the “GB Cavalcaselle” Fresco Museum at Juliet’s Tomb: in the former Franciscan convent is the sarcophagus where, according to tradition, Juliet died. A plaque commemorates the event:
Eyes, look at her one last time!
Arms, encircle her with a final embrace!
And you, lips, doors of breath, seal with a chaste kiss a contract without
Data.
The Italian writer Luigi da Porto (1485-1529) was perhaps the source for Shakespeare with his History newly rediscovered.
Verona is not just Shakespeare, Dante and Roman archaeological remains. Verona tells its stories along the streets, in the squares, on the walks along the Adige, on the bridges that accompany citizens and tourists from one bank to the other [in alto una veduta della città, nella foto di Jakub Halun, da Wikimedia Commons]The city can be discovered in a day, a weekend or in longer stays, an ideal starting point for visiting the wonders of the Veneto region.
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Literary Holidays (archive)
