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Piazza delle Erbe, an enchanted corner of Verona.
- Category What see Lake Garda and Verona
Agriturismo - Where to stay overnight
Piazza delle Erbe
Piazza delle Erbe is an enchanted corner of Verona, perhaps the truest. A corner where palaces, towers, statues and architectural elements from various eras overlap, creating a harmonious, unique and unrepeatable layered collage. In international guides it is described as one of the most beautiful squares in Italy. For many centuries Piazza Erbe was the hub of the social, economic and religious life of Verona. In Roman times it housed the Forum, of which the current square is the original length: there were the Campidoglio, Temples and Baths, connected by a portico that housed numerous shops. During the communal period it was the seat of political power and with the Scaligeri it became a lively center of arts and commerce. During the Venetian domination first and then the Austrian one, it welcomed the civil and criminal court, but it always remained the meeting place and favorite market of the Veronese. Starting the visit from the eastern side of the square, the one on the right coming from via Mazzini, first of all we find the thirteenth-century Palazzo della Ragione (also called Del Comune), which for centuries was the center of the city's political power. In its rooms there were the Collegio dei Notai, the Dazio della Seta, the Magistrate's Court, the Assize Court and the prisons, but always on the ground floor there were shops and shops. Devastated by numerous fires, it owes its current appearance to the architect Giuseppe Barbieri who, in the nineteenth century, had the façade facing the square renovated in a neoclassical style very different from the original Romanesque structure. The building is dominated by the Torre dei Lamberti, built in 1172 by the family of the same name following the Romanesque style typical of the time and still visible today in the lower part, made with bricks alternating with tuff. Over the centuries it has undergone various elevations, in a succession of materials and styles that are always happily in tune with each other, until 1464 when, with the addition of the octagonal belfry, it reached 84 meters and became the highest tower in Verona. From the rear courtyard of the Mercato Vecchio you can access the top by lift, enjoying an incomparable view of the city. The adjacent thirteenth-century Casa dei Giudici also had various and important functions over the centuries: initially used as the residence-office of the Podestà with the name of Domus Nova, it became the seat of the city councils and residence of the judges sent from Venice during the Serenissima.
The residence is connected to the Palazzo Comunale through the arch of the coast, from which a gigantic rib hangs. According to popular belief it was a rib lost by the devil, but in reality it is a whale rib used as a "sign" by one of the spice and merchandise shops that overlooked the square in the Middle Ages. The eastern side of the square ends with a splendid block of flats that reaches Corso Santa Anastasia: these are the Case Mazzanti and are some of the oldest buildings in Verona. Already used in the fourteenth century by the Scaligeri as a granary, they are famous for the lively mythological frescoes on the façade, which represent Ignorance, Prudence, Envy, Providence and the Struggle between Giants. The fresco was made at the beginning of the sixteenth century, following a widespread custom in the Renaissance, which earned the city of Verona the nickname of urbs picta (painted city) and still visible today in various buildings in the historic center. On the north-western side of the square, the smaller one, there are two buildings of considerable historical and artistic interest: the baroque Palazzo Maffei and the ancient Torre del Gardello. The palace dates back to the 17th century and with it the Baroque style made its majestic entrance to Verona, in the grandeur of this elegant and sophisticated three-storey building where the beauty of the facade captivates in a lightning flash of complexity. The six mythological statues on the elegant balustrade deserve particular admiration, all in local marble, except that of Hercules, which belonged to a temple dating back to the 1st century BC. (whose remains are clearly visible in the basement of the restaurant on the ground floor). The Torre del Gardello dates back to the Duke century, but owes its present appearance to Cansignorio della Scala, who in 1363 had it arranged and raised to the current height of 44 meters. It is also known by the name of Torre delle Ore because on its top there is a mechanical bell clock among the oldest in Europe, which rang there from 1421 to 1810. The buildings located in front of the Mazzanti houses rise on the foundations of the ancient Roman Capitol, which looked towards the Forum with one of the major sides. Some of them still retain fragments of the typical Renaissance frescoes on the façade, such as the one at number 23 on which the four Evangelists, the Virgin with the child Jesus, St. Joseph and St. John the Baptist are recognizable.
