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Verona Arena: the veronese ''little Colosseum''
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Verona Arena, the famous veronese amphitheater.
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Verona, a wonderful city that gives its name to the province of the same name, is an intrinsic inhabited center of art, culture and history, from Roman times to Romeo and Juliet. It is often referred to as "little Rome", due to the abundance and state of conservation of its finds. Like its "big sister", in fact, Verona also has its "small Colosseum", known to all as the Arena. Compared to the construction in Lazio, the Arena of Verona is less than half the size, but, almost regardless of its age, it continues to be used today for shows of all type, especially musical.
The history of the Verona Arena
From its foundation in the 1st century BC, Verona became a rich and populous city following its strategic position among the most important communication routes in northern Italy. Thus it was that over the course of a century, it acquired large monumental buildings: public palaces, temples and places of entertainment.
The Gladiator Shows
Over time, in all the territories dominated by the Romans, fights between gladiators had spread, bloody fights in which fighters fought each other to give spectacle to the public, often in fights to the death. The bloody fights had originated in Etruria or Campania, perhaps as a funeral ritual, and soon turned into a pure form of spectacle, much loved by the spectators. Politicians used gladiators, venationes, naumachias to obtain public consent and appease social dissension. Local emperors and magistrates competed to see who offered ever more grandiose and elaborate shows.
Clearly, to gather the crowds that flocked to watch the fighting, a special building was designed: the amphitheater. The architects of Rome had taken the Greek theater and then doubled it, placing one in front of the other and then joining them, forming an elliptical structure. The action took place in the center, while the audience sat around the concentric stands.
In a short time, the amphitheater became one of the indispensable buildings in every city scattered throughout the Empire, together with the gladiator fights held inside these monumental buildings. Irremediably becoming one of the representative characters of the ancient Roman culture. Archaeologists estimate that over time, around 200 have been built, with many of them still well preserved.
Construction of the Veronese amphitheater
As in our current stadiums, from the steps of the amphitheaters, the public supported their favorites with shouts and cheers. Seat brawls or disagreements over an arbitration decision were on the agenda.
The presence of wild animals, the abundance of blood and the consequent accumulation of carcasses and corpses, made these buildings enveloped by a nauseating smell. It was for this reason that they were erected not in the vicinity of inhabited areas.
In Verona, the Arena was built outside the residential area, 60-70 meters south of the walls that encircled the loop of the Adige, at the same distance from Porta Borsari and brings Leoni, the two main entrances to the city at that time. In this way, it was also easy to access for those coming from Lake Garda, from Valpolicella or from one of the numerous settlements located around Verona.
Seeing this building standing out in the middle of the plain, facing the city walls, undoubtedly guaranteed an impressive vision.
The Verona stone
Such colossal constructions required immense quantities of building material. Roman engineers and architects were very practical and flexible in adapting their projects to the conformation of the terrain and to the material that, locally, they could have available.
For the Arena of Verona, the stone of Valpolicella, the so-called Rosso Verona, was used. This is a limestone of which the mountain range north of Verona is composed, the Lessini. It is a great material for construction: compact, strong and easy to pull out. Known in ancient times and still used today for its qualities, including the color, which, depending on the quarry, ranges from milky white to intense red.
The School of Gladiators
An archaeological excavation, carried out previously, had brought to light the remains of a large building built next to the Arena, where the Veronese town hall stands today. According to scholars, it could have been the gladiator school, the place where the protagonists of these ancient shows trained and lived in semi-reclusion.
Gallieno Walls
In 265 A.D. the Alemanni, a barbarian population settled in the southwest of present-day Germany, crossed the borders of the empire with warlike intentions. Verona was right on the line of their advance. But nearly three centuries of peace had made its surrounding walls useless. In just six months the Emperor Gallienus managed to restore the defenses of the city.
On this occasion, the Arena was also incorporated, which until then had remained outside. The reason was not so much the desire to preserve the monument, which was certainly not of great interest to the barbarians. The Arena, with its 30 meters high, built close to the city, overlooked the defensive walls by almost 20 meters. Enemies could have occupied it as a stronghold and used it to control what was going on inside Verona and as an elevated point of attack.
It is likely that on this occasion the dismantling of part of the outermost wall of the amphitheater began, both to lower it and to use the stone blocks in the restoration of the walls.
The discovery of a keystone with the engraved number of one of the entrances to the Arena incorporated into the Gallienus wall would seem to confirm this hypothesis.
The Opera
In 1913 the first opera performance was held in the Arena. The legend says that the tenor Giovanni Zenatello was visiting the Arena with some friends when they asked him to sing some aria. They immediately realized the good acoustics of the ancient venue and the idea of holding an opera was born at the time. In reality, the Arena had already been used for some years for shows and musical concerts.
For the realization of an entire opera, Verdi's Aida was chosen, which with its spectacular scenographies lent itself to the monumentality of the place. It was a great success and it was therefore decided to make it an annual event that has turned into an important international festival, which has continued uninterruptedly, if we exclude the years of the two world wars, ever since. Famous artists such as Maria Callas, Pavarotti, Placido Domingo sang there.
The Arena Today
The use of the Arena for events and shows in racing over the last forty years has intensified more and more. In addition to the work, concerts of pop, jazz, rock music, some sporting events such as the arrival of the Giro d'Italia, the International Festival of Nativity Scenes that have long been held inside it, and even gala dinners and ice skating shows. Some of these shows are not infrequently broadcast on national TV.
The building is constantly monitored and is the subject of restoration and archaeological research.
In Roman times the show took place in the center with the audience arranged all around. Today the Arena is used as a theater. On one side a stage is mounted and the sets are set up while the audience sits in a semicircle on the opposite side. A part of the arena (combat area) is used as a stalls. This use reduces the capacity of the amphitheater (the steps behind the stage are not used). Depending on the size of the exhibition, they range from 15,000 to 17,000 spectators.
From October to April, in fact, it is possible to admire its original appearance, without the seats, the stalls and the stage installed in May for the season of operas and shows. Its interior looks like an ellipse of steps interrupted by "vomitors" for the entrance and exit of the spectators that overlook the ancient central area, sandy in order to absorb, once upon a time, the blood of gladiator fights. The auditorium consists of three rows of corridors, while the exterior is not in its original appearance. An earthquake that occurred in 1117 in fact destroyed most of the outer ring that surrounded the amphitheater, leaving only the current wing intact.
The Legend
To explain how it was possible to make it, numerous legends were born. The most famous is that of the pact with the devil. It tells of a man in prison the night before he was sentenced to death for a bloody crime. In order to save himself, the condemned man is willing to make a pact with the devil. This appears to him and suggests the plan.
The man asks to speak to the governor of the city. In exchange for the grace in just one night he will build the largest and most magnificent building in the city where the Veronese will be able to attend games and shows.
Incredulous, the governor accepts and as soon as night falls all the devils of hell set to work to build a gigantic amphitheater. As the hours go by, the man realizes how senseless the agreement he has made with the devil is. To have a few more years of life he condemned his immortal soul for eternity.
He then turns to the Virgin Mary, begging her to dissolve the infamous agreement. Our Lady listens to her repentance and anticipates of a few hours the sunrise. The rooster sings and the workers begin to leave the house to go to the fields and shops. The devils who had calculated the work times to complete the work undisturbed hidden by the darkness of the night must disappear, leaving the amphitheater unfinished. The presence of the wing of the Arena was thus explained.
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