Frigidus Divine Wind - Medieval Verona (original) (raw)

- Medieval Verona (Longobard weapons at Museo Archeologico di Cividale)

You may wish to read an introduction to this section or a page with some background information on the history of Roman Verona or a page on its theatre and amphitheatre first.

## Cathedral: main portal

The splendid porch must have formed part of the new building, and must, therefore, belong to the 12th century. Four columns, supporting two arches, one above the other, and the lower columns resting on griffins, form the porch. This absurd mode of supporting columns seems to have been common in Italy in the 12th and 13th centuries. John Murray - Handbook for Travellers in Northern Italy - 1852 The Cathedral was built in 1187, approximately at the same time as San Zeno on the site of a previous church which was destroyed in 1117 by an earthquake. The fa�ade and the interior were largely modified in the following centuries, but the portal retained its original Romanesque aspect.

## Cathedral: details of the main portal: (left) Roland; (centre) decorative band; (right) griffins (the reddish stone of one of them, known as "Rosso di Verona", was used for other guarding lions, e.g. those of the Cathedral of Ancona and in many monuments of Verona); another decorative detail is shown in the image used as background for this page

The celebrated Paladins, Roland and Oliver, who guard the entrance, may be supposed to have been introduced with reference to the traditional connection of Charlemagne with this building. (..) Orlando in his rt. hand holds his celebrated sword, upon the blade whereof its name is inscribed, divided thus into its four syllables, Du-rin-dar-da. His oval shield, flat at top, is pointed at the bottom, and ornamented with a species of Etruscan scroll-work. His l. leg and l. foot are armed in mail; the rt. leg and rt. foot are bare. Murray The decision of portraying the Paladins, defenders of Christianity against the Arabs, was perhaps prompted by the participation of Veronese knights in the Third Crusade. They are recorded among those who seized Acre in 1191.

## Cathedral: side portal and details of its decoration

The porch of the transept of the Duomo offers many peculiarities, consisting of two stories or ranges of columns with strange sculptures, mystical or satirical. Murray The reliefs have a religious significance, although a not very apparent one to a modern viewer; the man being swallowed by a monster is a reference to Jonah and the whale, the women with long hair in a capital are symbols of luxury, whereas the fish, the woman holding two cups and the lion on a pulvinus are Eucharistic symbols. The marble columns of the porch were taken from Roman monuments.

## Cathedral: cloister

The Cloister of the cathedral has been modernised in the upper story, for it was originally a double cloister. It has two ranges of arches in the height of the gallery, each arch rests on a pair of columns, and each pair is of a single stone, the capitals and bases being united (similar to that of S. Zeno). Murray The cloister stands on the site of Roman baths.

## San Lorenzo: (left) towers; (centre) interior; (right-above) fragment of a XIIth century fresco; (right-below) capital with four eagles

This XIIth century church was aligned with the grid of Roman Verona and some ancient materials were used in its construction. Its two round towers are rarely seen in Romanesque buildings in Italy (see another example at S. Claudio al Chienti). The interior retains its original clean lines and its height prefigures that of Gothic churches.

## San Fermo Maggiore: Lower Church

This church has the epithet of Maggiore from its size: it is, perhaps, the most interesting after the cathedral and San Zenone. Its foundation may be traced as far back as 751. The crypt appears to have been built in 1065; and the massy piers and plain heavy vaulting are perhaps unaltered. Murray The plan of the church was based on three naves, but to better support the upper church the main nave was divided into two by a row of pillars, thus creating a very unusual layout.

## San Fermo Maggiore: Lower Church frescoes: (left/centre) old frescoes depicting the Baptism of Christ and a Nursing Madonna: (right) later fresco portraying St. Francis and the Wolf of Gubbio

The Baptism of Christ shows the influence of mosaics in the Arian and Neon baptisteries of Ravenna. The Nursing Madonna is a very early example of a subject which became very popular in the XIIIth century (see a mosaic on the fa�ade of S. Maria in Trastevere). Because of the bare breast its depiction was discouraged by Counter-Reformation theologians (e.g. by Cardinal Charles Borromeo in Instructionum Fabricae et Supellectilis ecclesiasticae).

## San Fermo Maggiore: Upper Church and detail of its ceiling

The interior is a fine and bold Gothic, built between 1313 and 1332. The ceiling is of wood, and not handsome, but is ornamented with a vast number of paintings of saints on the compartments. Murray Today the unique wooden ceiling resembling an inverted boat keel receives more appreciative comments: Wow! I'm not religious myself but this building could have converted me to it. It was stunning. The roof, you have to go and see it for that alone. Absolutely amazing. Tripadvisor review by artemis1 in September 2019

## San Fermo Maggiore: (left) Mausoleo Brenzoni with statues by Nanni di Bartolo and frescoes by Pisanello; (right-above) tomb of Omobono, a "philosopher, physician and man knowledgeable in all matters" (d. 1330); (right-below) tomb of lawyer Antonio Pelacani (d. 1327)

There is a curious monument to the memory of Antonio Pelacani (or, skin the dogs), who appropriately took to wife Mabilia Pelavicini (or, skin the neighbours). He was a professor of medicine, and is represented surrounded by his pupils. Murray The practice of burying the famous and the rich inside the churches turned those of Verona (and in general of Italy) into a museum of fine arts.

## Piazza delle Erbe: Fontana di Madonna Verona which was built by using a Roman statue and a Roman basin

The squares are very full on market days; there are fruit and vegetables without number, and garlic and onions to the heart's desire. Throughout the day there is a ceaseless screaming, bantering, singing, squalling, huzzaing, and laughing. The mildness of the air, and the cheapness of the food, make subsistence easy. J. W. Goethe - Italian Journey - September 16, 1786 - translation by Charles Nisbet Piazza delle Erbe, or vegetable-market, was the Forum of the republican times of Verona, and contains many old and picturesque buildings connected with history. Murray I had been half afraid to go to Verona, lest it should at all put me out of conceit with Romeo and Juliet. But, I was no sooner come into the old market-place, than the misgiving vanished. It is so fanciful, quaint, and picturesque a place, formed by such an extraordinary and rich variety of fantastic buildings, that there could be nothing better at the core of even this romantic town: scene of one of the most romantic and beautiful of stories. It was natural enough, to go straight from the Market-place, to the House of the Capulets, now degenerated into a most miserable little inn. Noisy vettur�ni and muddy market-carts were disputing possession of the yard, which was ankle-deep in dirt, with a brood of splashed and bespattered geese; and there was a grim-visaged dog, viciously panting in a doorway, who would certainly have had Romeo by the leg, the moment he put it over the wall, if he had existed and been at large in those times. (..) The geese, the market-carts, their drivers, and the dog, were somewhat in the way of the story, it must be confessed; and it would have been pleasanter to have found the house empty, and to have been able to walk through the disused rooms. (..) The house is a distrustful, jealous-looking house as one would desire to see, though of a very moderate size. So I was quite satisfied with it, as the veritable mansion of old Capulet, and was correspondingly grateful in my acknowledgments to an extremely unsentimental middle-aged lady, the Padrona of the Hotel, who was lounging on the threshold looking at the geese. From Juliet's home, to Juliet's tomb, is a transition as natural to the visitor, as to fair Juliet herself, or to the proudest Juliet that ever has taught the torches to burn bright in any time. So, I went off, with a guide, to an old, old garden, once belonging to an old, old convent, I suppose; and being admitted, at a shattered gate, by a bright-eyed woman who was washing clothes, went down some walks where fresh plants and young flowers were prettily growing among fragments of old wall, and ivy-coloured mounds; and was shown a little tank, or water-trough, which the bright-eyed woman, drying her arms upon her 'kerchief, called 'La tomba di Giulietta la sfortunata.' With the best disposition in the world to believe, I could do no more than believe that the bright-eyed woman believed; so I gave her that much credit, and her customary fee in ready money. It was a pleasure, rather than a disappointment, that Juliet's resting-place was forgotten. (..) It is better for Juliet to lie out of the track of tourists, and to have no visitors but such as come to graves in spring-rain, and sweet air, and sunshine. Charles Dickens - Pictures from Italy - 1846

## (left) Monument to Cangrande I Della Scala (1291-1329) at S. Maria Antica; (centre/right) the original statue at its top at Museo di Castelvecchio

Near the church of S. Mary the Ancient there are some magnificent tombs of their ancient lords the Scaligers. Thomas Nugent - The Grand Tour - 1749 Cangrande was vicar of the empire in Verona. He was a Ghibelline in heart and soul; and, whilst he acquired the possession of Vicenza, Padua, Feltre, Belluno, and Bassano, by force or policy, the grant of the vicaral powers gave a legitimate character to the dominion which he obtained. The court of Cangrande was the most magnificent in Italy, and exhibited a combination of military splendour and profuse hospitality and liberality to the stranger, and encouragement to the literature of the age. His palace became the refuge for all who, embracing his political opinions, had in anywise subjected themselves to persecution; and it was here that Dantefound an asylum. (..) The tomb of Cangrande forms a species of portal to the church. It is composed of three stages; columns support the tomb, and through them the church is entered; (..) above, on a pyramid, is the statue of the warrior, in full armour, mounted on his war-horse. (..) the mastiff's head appears as the crest of the helm, thrown back upon the shoulder. Murray

## Monument to Cangrande I Della Scala: sarcophagus and gisant statue

Upon the sarcophagus the Signore is extended in his peaceful robes girt with his sword of state. (..) The sarcophagus rests upon figures of mastiff dogs supporting the shield charged with the scala, the ladder, the bearing of the family. Murray Her nobles sleep in marble tombs so beautiful that the dust in them ought to be envied by living men in Verona; her lords lie in perpetual state in the heart of the city, in magnificent sepulchres of such grace and opulence. William Dean Howells - Italian Journeys - 1867

## (left/centre) Monument to Mastino II della Scala (1308-1351) and the original statue at Museo di Castelvecchio; (right) Monument to Cansignorio della Scala (1340-1375)

The Tombs of the Scaligers, with their soaring pinnacles, their high-poised canopies, their exquisite refinement and concentration of the Gothic idea, I can't profess, even after much worshipful gazing, to have fully comprehended and enjoyed. They seemed to me full of deep architectural meanings, such as must drop gently into the mind one by one, after infinite tranquil contemplation. But even to the hurried and preoccupied traveller the solemn little chapelyard in the city s heart, in which they stand girdled by their great swaying curtain of linked and twisted iron, is one of the most impressive spots in Italy. Nowhere else is such a wealth of artistic achievement crowded into so narrow a space; nowhere else are the daily comings and goings of men blessed by the presence of manlier art. Henry James - Italian Hours - 1872

## Ponte Scaligero

The eighth ruler of the Scaligers, Cangrande II, who built the Castel Vecchio, and the great bridge adjoining it over the Adige, after a troubled reign of eight years, was murdered by his own brother, Can Signorio, 1359: and it shows in what a demoralised state Italy must then have been, when we find that such a crime did not prevent the perpretator of it from succeeding to the government. (..) The virtues of the early Scaligers had raised them to power: the vices of their descendants terminated their reign. The Veronese, disgusted with the Scaligers, voluntarily surrendered themselves to the Venetians in 1406. (..) Immediately adjoining the castle, which is on the banks of the Adige, is the coeval Ponte del Castello, also a picturesque object. It is of brick, turreted and battlemented. The arches are of unequal size; the largest is about 161 feet in span. The different views of and from this bridge are admirable. Murray

## (left) Ponte Scaligero; (right-above) its Ghibelline battlements; (right-below) a Roman capital which was found during the 1820 restoration

The Scaligeri, the lords of Verona, crowned their buildings with the forked battlements which render them so picturesque. Murray In 1802 the French pulled down the battlements and the tower. In 1820 Emperor Francis I ordered the restoration of its medieval aspect, which perhaps was slightly enhanced to make it more picturesque. The bridge was blown out by retreating German troops in April 1945 and it was carefully rebuilt dove era e come era (where it was and how it was) in 1949-1951.

## Castelvecchio and its reconstructed Torre dell'Orologio

In a land (Italy), where we enjoy the days but take especial delight in the evenings, the time of nightfall is highly important. For now work ceases; those who have gone out walking turn back; the father wishes to have his daughter home again; the day has an end. What the day is we Cimmerians (*) hardly know. In our eternal mist and fog it is the same thing to us, whether it be day or night, for how much time can we really pass and enjoy in the open air? Now when night sets in, the day, which consisted of a morning and an evening, is decidedly past, four and twenty hours are gone, the bells ring, the rosary is taken in hand, and the maid, entering the chamber with the lighted lamp, says, "felicissima notte". This epoch varies with every season, and a man who lives here in actual life cannot go wrong, because all the enjoyments of his existence are regulated not by the nominal hour, but by the time of day. If the people were forced to use a German clock they would be perplexed, for their own is intimately connected with their nature. Goethe At Goethe's time the clock at Castelvecchio had only one pointer and the quadrant had six hours. Learn more about the Italian Hour and see a clock at Sutri which has retained its original aspect. (*) Homer (Odyssey - Book XI) refers to the Cimmerians as a faraway people who live in fog and clouds and Goethe made a link between them and the Germans.

## (left) A hall of the museum inside Castelvecchio; (right) an original fresco

The Castello Vecchio was built in 1355 by Cangrande II, for the purpose of keeping the city in check. (..) It is yet a noble and picturesque pile, battlemented at the top. Within, the quadrangle has been much modernised, and some fine towers have been demolished. Murray The original castle was modified many times through the centuries. In 1923-1926 some of its medieval parts were rebuilt and its use by the military was discontinued. It was greatly damaged during WWII. In 1958-1974 Carlo Scarpa, a leading Italian architect, presided over the restoration of the complex so that it could house the civic collections of fine arts.