Description
The Loggia del Consiglio is one of the Renaissance jewels of Piazza dei Signori, in Verona: a portico of eight arches with four large mullioned windows above, all painted, and five statues on the roof. It is also called Fra' Giocondo's loggia, but the famous friar-architect never designed it.
The attribution to Fra' Giocondo, the Veronese humanist friar active in Paris, Venice and Rome, is a 19th-century mistake. The real design was the collective work of Veronese humanists and builders, among whom Daniele Banda stands out.
In 1451 the city began looking for a seat for its Council, and only in 1476 decided to build it in this square, in place of an old, dilapidated crenellated palace. To give the square a regular shape, as Renaissance taste demanded, the new facade was set back. Work ended in 1493.
The painted facade, like so many in Verona at the time, is the work of Comacine artists. The result represents the humanist rebirth of the city. Below, the portico with eight round arches; above, the large mullioned windows with pediments and carved pilasters.
At the top stand the statues of illustrious ancient Veronese: Catullus, Vitruvius Cerdo, Aemilius Macer, Cornelius Nepos and Pliny the Elder. Pliny was believed to have been born in Verona.
The building was meant to celebrate the city and its government. But the Council that met here, under Venetian rule, was in reality a formal institution, without real autonomy. Today it houses offices and meetings, and also hosts cultural events.
In 1606 the Council asked Girolamo Campagna for two bronze high reliefs, the Angel Announcing and the Virgin Annunciate, which were placed in the center of the facade. Today they are in the museum near Juliet's tomb. Inside remain canvases from the 16th and 18th centuries, among them Giambettino Cignaroli's Pomponius Triumphant.
On the arch that joins the loggia to the Casa della Pietà stands the statue of Girolamo Fracastoro, Veronese physician, poet and astronomer, sculpted by Danese Cattaneo in 1559.
Don't miss
• The statues on the cornice.
• The painted facade.
• The statue of Fracastoro.
Did you know?
• In the 19th century the loggia was used as the civic picture gallery, but a report from 1837 describes it more as a storeroom.
• For a time inside there was a gallery of 110 medallions, herms and busts of famous Veronese, now in the civic library.
• The oldest painting left inside is from 1566: the Madonna and Child between Saint Zeno and Saint Peter Martyr receives the homage of Verona, before figures of the city such as Girolamo Fracastoro.
The attribution to Fra' Giocondo, the Veronese humanist friar active in Paris, Venice and Rome, is a 19th-century mistake. The real design was the collective work of Veronese humanists and builders, among whom Daniele Banda stands out.
In 1451 the city began looking for a seat for its Council, and only in 1476 decided to build it in this square, in place of an old, dilapidated crenellated palace. To give the square a regular shape, as Renaissance taste demanded, the new facade was set back. Work ended in 1493.
The painted facade, like so many in Verona at the time, is the work of Comacine artists. The result represents the humanist rebirth of the city. Below, the portico with eight round arches; above, the large mullioned windows with pediments and carved pilasters.
At the top stand the statues of illustrious ancient Veronese: Catullus, Vitruvius Cerdo, Aemilius Macer, Cornelius Nepos and Pliny the Elder. Pliny was believed to have been born in Verona.
The building was meant to celebrate the city and its government. But the Council that met here, under Venetian rule, was in reality a formal institution, without real autonomy. Today it houses offices and meetings, and also hosts cultural events.
In 1606 the Council asked Girolamo Campagna for two bronze high reliefs, the Angel Announcing and the Virgin Annunciate, which were placed in the center of the facade. Today they are in the museum near Juliet's tomb. Inside remain canvases from the 16th and 18th centuries, among them Giambettino Cignaroli's Pomponius Triumphant.
On the arch that joins the loggia to the Casa della Pietà stands the statue of Girolamo Fracastoro, Veronese physician, poet and astronomer, sculpted by Danese Cattaneo in 1559.
Don't miss
• The statues on the cornice.
• The painted facade.
• The statue of Fracastoro.
Did you know?
• In the 19th century the loggia was used as the civic picture gallery, but a report from 1837 describes it more as a storeroom.
• For a time inside there was a gallery of 110 medallions, herms and busts of famous Veronese, now in the civic library.
• The oldest painting left inside is from 1566: the Madonna and Child between Saint Zeno and Saint Peter Martyr receives the homage of Verona, before figures of the city such as Girolamo Fracastoro.