Description
The Church of Sant'Anastasia is the largest church in Verona and its most important Gothic landmark, on the side of the square that bears its name, a couple of steps from Ponte Pietra. Outside it is brick and unfinished; inside it has three great aisles with red marble pillars and masterpieces in every chapel.
The name, strictly speaking, is not its own: the Dominicans dedicated it to Saint Peter of Verona, martyr, but the Veronese kept calling it after one of the two little churches that stood there before, Sant'Anastasia and San Remigio. Work began in 1290, with contributions from the Scaligers and other great families, and went on for over a century and a half.
The facade, incomplete, is brick, and has only one finished element: the 15th-century two-light portal, with five stacked arches held up by columns of red, white and black marble. On the architrave are six scenes from the life of Christ, carved by the Master of Sant'Anastasia.
At the entrance two mustached hunchbacks hold up the holy-water stoups, with a worried air. The second is also called Pasquino, because he entered the basilica on Easter Sunday in 1591. The first, from 1491, is attributed to Gabriele Caliari, father of Paolo, known as Veronese.
The interior has three aisles divided by monumental cylindrical pillars and a large transept. The floor too is a work of art: the white, red and black marbles echo the colors of the facade, and the paving was begun in 1462 by Pietro da Porlezza.
The masterpiece is Pisanello's Saint George and the Princess, frescoed between 1433 and 1438 above the arch of the Pellegrini chapel: a fabulous, chivalric world, in a clear and elegant line. In the same chapel are 24 terracotta panels by Michele da Firenze, from 1435.
In the presbytery, on the left side, is the monument to Cortesia Serego, a condottiero in the time of the Scaligers, with his figure on horseback in armor above the sarcophagus. Among the chapels is the Fregoso altar by Danese Cattaneo, praised by Giorgio Vasari.
Along the facade, on the left, stands a tomb: it is that of Guglielmo da Castelbarco, the first monumental "canopy" tomb, which a few years later inspired the Scaliger Tombs.
The basilica was consecrated on October 22, 1471, but the building site stayed open for more than two centuries. The facade was never completed.
The name, strictly speaking, is not its own: the Dominicans dedicated it to Saint Peter of Verona, martyr, but the Veronese kept calling it after one of the two little churches that stood there before, Sant'Anastasia and San Remigio. Work began in 1290, with contributions from the Scaligers and other great families, and went on for over a century and a half.
The facade, incomplete, is brick, and has only one finished element: the 15th-century two-light portal, with five stacked arches held up by columns of red, white and black marble. On the architrave are six scenes from the life of Christ, carved by the Master of Sant'Anastasia.
At the entrance two mustached hunchbacks hold up the holy-water stoups, with a worried air. The second is also called Pasquino, because he entered the basilica on Easter Sunday in 1591. The first, from 1491, is attributed to Gabriele Caliari, father of Paolo, known as Veronese.
The interior has three aisles divided by monumental cylindrical pillars and a large transept. The floor too is a work of art: the white, red and black marbles echo the colors of the facade, and the paving was begun in 1462 by Pietro da Porlezza.
The masterpiece is Pisanello's Saint George and the Princess, frescoed between 1433 and 1438 above the arch of the Pellegrini chapel: a fabulous, chivalric world, in a clear and elegant line. In the same chapel are 24 terracotta panels by Michele da Firenze, from 1435.
In the presbytery, on the left side, is the monument to Cortesia Serego, a condottiero in the time of the Scaligers, with his figure on horseback in armor above the sarcophagus. Among the chapels is the Fregoso altar by Danese Cattaneo, praised by Giorgio Vasari.
Along the facade, on the left, stands a tomb: it is that of Guglielmo da Castelbarco, the first monumental "canopy" tomb, which a few years later inspired the Scaliger Tombs.
The basilica was consecrated on October 22, 1471, but the building site stayed open for more than two centuries. The facade was never completed.