Description
The Domus Mercatorum, or Merchants' House, is a medieval building facing Piazza delle Erbe in Verona. It was built between 1301 and 1304 for the guilds of the arts and trades, with a portico of arches in white stone and brick.
The thing to look at is the facade. On the ground floor is a portico of round arches, with columns of pinkish stone and Tuscan capitals, alternating every three bays with piers faced in white marble slabs. The arches are made of blocks of white stone and brick in alternating stripes.
On the first floor open mullioned windows with double stone colonnettes. The wall is exposed brick, crowned by battlements that are not medieval, however: they were added in the nineteenth-century restoration, which aimed to give the building back its original look.
The fronts face Piazza delle Erbe, Via dei Pellicciai and Via Portici, all with the same portico on the ground floor.
In medieval Verona merchants counted for more than you might think. The guilds of the arts and trades had a leading role not only in the economy but also in politics: it was thanks to their influence that the Scaligeri were able to seize power and create the city's first signoria.
Alberto I della Scala, shortly before dying, commissioned for them a masonry building to serve as a place for trading. Earlier, in the early 1200s, there had been a wooden structure for the Wool Guild.
Deals were made here, and the podestà of the Merchants' House acted as judge in disputes between traders. In time the Della Scala concentrated power, and the guilds' responsibilities shrank to trade and manufacturing.
The building never changed its trade. In 1802 it became the seat of the chamber of commerce, and from 1878 to 1884 it had a major restoration, with consolidation work and the rebuilding of the facade.
On July 2, 1952 a fire badly damaged the seventeenth-century furnishings of the archive hall, the floors of the portico and the roof trusses. The work lasted until 1954.
The thing to look at is the facade. On the ground floor is a portico of round arches, with columns of pinkish stone and Tuscan capitals, alternating every three bays with piers faced in white marble slabs. The arches are made of blocks of white stone and brick in alternating stripes.
On the first floor open mullioned windows with double stone colonnettes. The wall is exposed brick, crowned by battlements that are not medieval, however: they were added in the nineteenth-century restoration, which aimed to give the building back its original look.
The fronts face Piazza delle Erbe, Via dei Pellicciai and Via Portici, all with the same portico on the ground floor.
In medieval Verona merchants counted for more than you might think. The guilds of the arts and trades had a leading role not only in the economy but also in politics: it was thanks to their influence that the Scaligeri were able to seize power and create the city's first signoria.
Alberto I della Scala, shortly before dying, commissioned for them a masonry building to serve as a place for trading. Earlier, in the early 1200s, there had been a wooden structure for the Wool Guild.
Deals were made here, and the podestà of the Merchants' House acted as judge in disputes between traders. In time the Della Scala concentrated power, and the guilds' responsibilities shrank to trade and manufacturing.
The building never changed its trade. In 1802 it became the seat of the chamber of commerce, and from 1878 to 1884 it had a major restoration, with consolidation work and the rebuilding of the facade.
On July 2, 1952 a fire badly damaged the seventeenth-century furnishings of the archive hall, the floors of the portico and the roof trusses. The work lasted until 1954.