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1034
VERONA
  

to Legnago, and steam tramways to Cologna Veneta, Coriano and S. Giacomo.

The basilica of S. Zeno (an early bishop of Verona who became its patron saint), which stands outside the ancient city, is one of the most interesting Romanesque churches in Italy. The church was remodelled in 1139, to which period much of the existing structure belongs, including the richly sculptured west front and the open confessio or crypt, whichChurches. occupies the eastern half of the church, raising the choir high above the nave. The nave, dating from the 11th 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 brick and marble construction. Like many other churches in Verona, S. Zeno is mainly built of mixed brick and stone in alternate bands: four or five courses of fine red brick lie between bands of hard cream-coloured limestone or marble, forming broad stripes of red and white all over the wall. A similarly variegated effect in red and white is produced by building the arches of windows and doors with alternating voussoirs in brick and marble. The neighbourhood of Verona is especially rich in fine limestones and marbles of many different kinds, especially a close-grained cream-coloured marble and a rich mottled red marble, which are largely used, not only in Verona, but also in Venice and other cities of the province. The same quarry produces both kinds, and indeed the same block is sometimes half red and half white. On the north side of the church is a lofty tower, called the tower of Peppin; while the slender brick campanile on the south dates from 1045 to 1178.

The cathedral, consecrated in 1187 by Pope Urban III., stands at the northern extremity of the ancient city, by the bank of the Adige; it is inferior in size and importance to S. Zeno, but has a fine 12th-century west front of equal interest, richly decorated with naïve Romanesque sculpture (1135). The rest of the exterior is built in bands of red and white, with slightly projecting pilasters along the walls; it has a noble cloister, with two storeys of arcading. The campanile by Sanmichele is unfinished. Its baptistery, rebuilt early in the 12th century , is a quite separate building, with nave and apse, forming a church dedicated to S. Giovanni in Fonte. Pope Lucius III., who held a council at Verona in 1184, is buried in the cathedral, under the pavement before the high altar. The Dominican church of S. Anastasia is a mine of wealth in early examples of painting and sculpture, and one of the finest buildings in Italy of semi-Gothic style. It consists of a nave in six bays, aisles, transepts, each with two eastern chapels, and an apse, all vaulted with simple quadripartite brick groining. It was begun in 1261, but not completed till 1422, and is specially remarkable for its very beautiful and complete scheme of coloured decoration, much of which is contemporary with the building. The vaults are gracefully painted with floreated bands along the ribs and central patterns in each “cell,” in rich soft colours on a white plastered ground. The eastern portion of the vaulting, including the choir and one bay of the nave, has the older and simpler decorations; the rest of the nave has more elaborate painted ornament—foliage mixed with figures of Dominican 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 George (mentioned below). This church also contains a large number of fine sculptured tombs of the 14th and 15th centuries, with noble 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 general proportions are specially noble, and the exterior view is good. The church of S. Fermo Maggiore comes next in interest. With the exception of the crypt, which is older, the existing edifice was rebuilt in 1313. The facade is of brick and marble used alternately. The 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 east end. The roof, which is especially magnificent, is the finest example of a class which as a rule is only found in Venetia or in churches built by Venetian architects in Istria and other subject provinces: the framing is concealed by coving or barrel-vaulting in wood, the surface of which is divided into small square panels, all painted and gilt, giving a very rich effect. In this case the 14th and 15th century painted decorations are well preserved. Delicate patterns cover all the framework of the panelling and fill the panels themselves; at two stages, where there is a check in the line cf the coving, rows of half-figures of saints are minutely painted on blue or gold grounds, forming a scheme of indescribably splendid decoration. A simpler roof of the same class exists at S. Zeno; it is trefoil-shaped in section, with a tie-beam joining the cusps. The church of S. Maria in Organo, dating from 1481, with a façade 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 death, the church of S. Giorgio in Braida, on the other side of the river, was also designed by Sanmichele, and possesses many good pictures of the Veronese school. The Romanesque church of S. Lorenzo, restored in 1896–1898, contains old frescoes. S. Stefano is another Romanesque church, probably of the 11th century. There are several other fine churches in Verona, some of early date. One of the 14th century is dedicated to Thomas à Becket of Canterbury.

The strongly fortified castle (Castel Vecchio) built by the Delia Scala lords in the 14th century stands cm the line of the wall of Theodoric, close by the river. A very picturesque battlemented bridge leads from it to the other shore, and sloping down over three arches of different sizes, the largest next to the castle and the smallest at the otherBridges and fortifications. end. There are four other bridges across the Adige: one, the graceful Ponte di Pietra, rests upon ancient foundations, while the two arches nearest to the left bank are Roman; but it has been frequently restored. Remains of another ancient bridge were found in the river itself in 1891 behind S. Anastasia. The 16th-century lines of fortification enclose a very much larger area than the Roman city, forming a great loop to the west, and also including a considerable space on the left bank of the river. In the latter part of the city, on a steep elevation, stands the castle of St Peter, originally founded by Theodoric, on the site, perhaps, of the earliest citadel, mostly rebuilt by Gian Galeazzo Visconti in 1393, and dismantled by the French in 1801. 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 chief military centre of the 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 conquest by Venice, were of noble and simple design, mostly built of fine red brick, with an inner court, surrounded on the ground floor by open arches like a cloister, as, for example, the Palazzo della Ragione, an assize court, begun in the 12th century. The arches, round or more often pointed in form, were decoratedPalaces. with moulded terra-cotta enrichments, and often with alternating voussoirs of marble. The Scaligeri Palace is a fine example, dating from the 14th century, with, in the cortile, an external staircase leading to an upper loggia, above the usual arcade on the ground floor. It has a lofty campanile, surmounted by a graceful octagonal upper 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 ogee arch, framed by the dentil moulding, is almost always used. The monotony and lifelessness of this form of 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 Renaissance were developed. The town hall, with its