Description
Palazzo Emilei Forti, also known as Palazzo Forti, is a large palace in the historic center of Verona. It has a neoclassical façade with a double entrance and hides a medieval wing and a Roman road inside: in a few steps you cross two thousand years of Verona.
The façade dates from the late eighteenth century, designed by Ignazio Pellegrini. Two twin arches with rusticated stonework and Doric columns form the monumental portal, meant to impress anyone walking along the narrow street.
Inside is the Loggia of Ezzelino, the best-preserved medieval part: a triple arcade that takes up the whole depth of the building. Above it you can see three large walled-up windows.
In the courtyard a fake painted landscape in neo-Gothic style, from the mid-nineteenth century, creates the illusion of a perspective. Inside are decorated halls and small rooms, including one with a frescoed fireplace.
This is the detail not to miss if you love archaeology. Under the palace, excavations in the 1980s found a paved Roman road from the first century BC and the remains of a domus from the first century.
The medieval palace was perhaps built by the Castelbarco family in the first decades of the thirteenth century. Between 1249 and 1254 the tyrant Ezzelino III da Romano used it as his residence. From 1458 it passed to the Emilei, who had come from Brescia.
In 1797 Napoleon set up his headquarters here. But Count Francesco Emilei, hostile to the French, took part in the Veronese Easter uprising: he was executed and the palace was plundered.
In 1849 Pietro Emilei placed the palace at the disposal of Field Marshal Radetzky. It was then bought by the merchant Israele Forti, and in 1935 Achille Forti left it to the city with his art collections.
From 1938 the palace housed the Gallery of Modern Art and, on the ground floor, the Museum of the Risorgimento. The exhibitions on Paul Klee (1992) and Wassily Kandinsky (1993) made it well known. The gallery has since moved to Palazzo della Ragione.
The façade dates from the late eighteenth century, designed by Ignazio Pellegrini. Two twin arches with rusticated stonework and Doric columns form the monumental portal, meant to impress anyone walking along the narrow street.
Inside is the Loggia of Ezzelino, the best-preserved medieval part: a triple arcade that takes up the whole depth of the building. Above it you can see three large walled-up windows.
In the courtyard a fake painted landscape in neo-Gothic style, from the mid-nineteenth century, creates the illusion of a perspective. Inside are decorated halls and small rooms, including one with a frescoed fireplace.
This is the detail not to miss if you love archaeology. Under the palace, excavations in the 1980s found a paved Roman road from the first century BC and the remains of a domus from the first century.
The medieval palace was perhaps built by the Castelbarco family in the first decades of the thirteenth century. Between 1249 and 1254 the tyrant Ezzelino III da Romano used it as his residence. From 1458 it passed to the Emilei, who had come from Brescia.
In 1797 Napoleon set up his headquarters here. But Count Francesco Emilei, hostile to the French, took part in the Veronese Easter uprising: he was executed and the palace was plundered.
In 1849 Pietro Emilei placed the palace at the disposal of Field Marshal Radetzky. It was then bought by the merchant Israele Forti, and in 1935 Achille Forti left it to the city with his art collections.
From 1938 the palace housed the Gallery of Modern Art and, on the ground floor, the Museum of the Risorgimento. The exhibitions on Paul Klee (1992) and Wassily Kandinsky (1993) made it well known. The gallery has since moved to Palazzo della Ragione.