Verona, Italy, is both a city and a province. It is at the foot of the Lessini Mountains, about 65 miles (105 km) west of Venice. It is in the Veneto Region of Italy, and the Adige River flows around it on two sides. It has been a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 2000. An an ancient tribe, most likely the Euganei or Raeti, built the city of Verona. Later, the Gallic Cenomani lived there.
Verona Italy History
It became a Roman town in 89 BCE, and its importance grew quickly because it was at the crossing of major roads that went from Italy to northern Europe. Catullus, the writer, was born in a certain place. In 489, when the Ostrogoth king Theodoric attacked Verona, he built a castle where Castel San Pietro is now, on the Adige River.
The city was important even when the Lombards were in charge. In 774, Charlemagne took control of it, and his son Pippin and Berengar of Tours moved there. Since the start of the 12th century, Verona has been a free city. It went through a lot of pain during the early wars between the Guelfs and the Ghibellines, but in the end, it picked the Guelfs.
Verona Italy Romeo and Juliet
After Mastino I, the city was at peace and grew under the “Scaliger” or Della Scala family. Della Scala became the chief judge in 1260 after Ezzelino da Romano’s dictatorship from 1226 to 1259. Romeo Montague and Juliet Capulet were said to have loved each other and died while Bartolomeo Della Scala was in charge.
The Tomb of Juliet, Romeo’s House, and Juliet’s House are all reminders of how they felt about each other. Cangrande I was the most important member of the Della Scala family. He was Bartolomeo’s brother and died in 1329. He was there for Dante. Gian Galeazzo Visconti got Verona in 1387, and Venice got it in 1405.
Verona Italy Facts
In 1797, as part of the Treaty of Campo Formio, Napoleon I gave it to Austria. Between 1509 and 1517, Emperor Maximilian I lived there. In 1822, the last meeting of the Quadruple Alliance took place in Verona. It was made up of Russia, Prussia, Austria, and the United Kingdom. The city joined the Kingdom of Italy in 1866.
During WWII, it suffered a lot of damage, but it has been fixed up since then. One of the cities in northern Italy with the most Roman ruins is Verona. The most noticeable thing is the amphitheater, which is also called a stadium. It is the third-biggest Roman stadium that is still standing. It is being used for music right now.
Historical Events in Verona Italy
In the first century CE, the Roman theater, the nearby historical museum, and two of the city’s walls were all built. The Arco Dei Gavi was built in the first century BCE and fixed in 1932. When it opened in 1714, the Lapidario Maffeiano Museum had some things from Greece and Rome. Verona is known for its many Romanesque and Gothic buildings, which are often made of pink bricks that make them easy to spot.
Fra Giocondo and Michele Sanmicheli, two of the most important Renaissance architects, were both born in the city. The Romanesque San Zeno Maggiore was built in the 5th century and rebuilt in 1117–1227 with a brick and marble facade, a famous marble porch, and a triptych by the 14th-century painter Andrea Mantegna. The Gothic Sant’Anastasia was started in 1290 and finished in 1422–81.
City of Verona
One of the largest libraries in Europe is in the Romanesque-Gothic church. It was fixed up in the 1400s and has a picture by Titian called “The Assumption” from the 1600s. San Fermo Maggiore has two houses from the 11th century, and one of them was fixed up in 1313. SS. Nazzaro and Celso were rebuilt between 1464 and 1483, and San Giorgio in Braida was started in 1477 and finished in 1536. Sanmicheli was in charge of this church’s plans for the most part.
The Castelvecchio, now the Civic Museum in Verona, was built by Cangrande II in 1354; the Loggia del Consiglio (1493), attributed to Fra Giocondo; the Arche Scaligere, which includes the elaborate Scaliger tombs with Gothic canopies surmounted by equestrian statues; the Palazzo Della Ragione (1193; much altered); and the Ponte Scaligero (1354), which was rebuilt after being damaged in World War II.
In the Middle Ages, Verona was also known as a place where people went to draw. Antonio Pisanello’s (Pisano’s) work is the pinnacle of 14th- and 15th-century courtly mural art. In the 1500s, the styles of Bartolommeo Montagna of Vicenza and Jacopo Bellini, his father-in-law, who was from Venice, as well as those of Venice, affected the whole Veronese style.
The most well-known painter in the city was Paolo Caliari, also known as Paolo Veronese. He spent most of his time living and working in Venice, but you can still see his painting “The Martyrdom of St. George” in San Giorgio in Braida, Verona. Through the Brenner Pass, the city is a hub for road and rail links from northern Italy to central Europe.
It is easy to get to Milan and Venice by train or car, and both Boscomantico and Villafranca have airports. Verona is known for its grain market and the annual International Agricultural and Horse Fair. It has also sent fresh fruits and vegetables to central Europe since 1898.
There are also engineering, chemical, and paper businesses, as well as ones that process sugar and make a wide range of goods. Verona is known for its old wines like Amarone, Bardolino, Valpolicella, Soave, and Recioto. Handicraft industries like making beautiful furniture and working with valuable metals and marble are doing well.
