Description
The Archaeological Museum at the Roman Theater tells the story of Roman Verona inside a 15th-century former convent hanging on the hillside, in the Veronetta district, above the Roman theater. To reach it you climb the tiers of the cavea.
The museum was founded in 1924, after in 1904 the city had bought the theater area from the heirs of Andrea Monga, who had brought it back to light. Collections of antiquities donated or sold by the great Veronese families were added, then new excavation finds. After a renovation between 2013 and 2016 it has a modern display.
The complex has three parts: Palazzo Fontana, Renaissance, which serves as the entrance and has absorbed remains of the theater's stage building; the theater itself; and the convent of the Gesuati, with the church of San Girolamo, the small cloister, the refectory and the friars' cells.
The sections follow the ancient city. You start with the houses, with their refined furnishings, and the necropolises, because the Romans were forbidden to bury the dead within the city. Then the monuments: the wooden model of the Arch of the Gavi, from 1813, in which every little piece matches a stone of the real arch, numbered and removable, and the 18th-century model of the Arena.
Beside the model of the Arena is a mosaic with three gladiators: the winner, the dead one and the one who was spared. In the theater section there are reconstructions and prints by Giovanni Caroto, and in that of the sanctuary of Isis and Serapis, the Egyptian deities found near the theater.
Going down to the fourth floor you find the bronzes: Verona is one of the Roman cities of northern Italy with the most bronze finds, rare objects because they were often melted down. In the former refectory are the large marble sculptures, including a Roman copy of Phidias's Venus and a large draped female figure.
Between the cloister and the church you come across funerary stones, blown glass, small bronzes of deities and the Roman mosaics of the church of San Girolamo, which has a 16th-century wooden ceiling. Finally the great Roman terrace carved into the hill, with tombstones and architectural fragments.
The museum was founded in 1924, after in 1904 the city had bought the theater area from the heirs of Andrea Monga, who had brought it back to light. Collections of antiquities donated or sold by the great Veronese families were added, then new excavation finds. After a renovation between 2013 and 2016 it has a modern display.
The complex has three parts: Palazzo Fontana, Renaissance, which serves as the entrance and has absorbed remains of the theater's stage building; the theater itself; and the convent of the Gesuati, with the church of San Girolamo, the small cloister, the refectory and the friars' cells.
The sections follow the ancient city. You start with the houses, with their refined furnishings, and the necropolises, because the Romans were forbidden to bury the dead within the city. Then the monuments: the wooden model of the Arch of the Gavi, from 1813, in which every little piece matches a stone of the real arch, numbered and removable, and the 18th-century model of the Arena.
Beside the model of the Arena is a mosaic with three gladiators: the winner, the dead one and the one who was spared. In the theater section there are reconstructions and prints by Giovanni Caroto, and in that of the sanctuary of Isis and Serapis, the Egyptian deities found near the theater.
Going down to the fourth floor you find the bronzes: Verona is one of the Roman cities of northern Italy with the most bronze finds, rare objects because they were often melted down. In the former refectory are the large marble sculptures, including a Roman copy of Phidias's Venus and a large draped female figure.
Between the cloister and the church you come across funerary stones, blown glass, small bronzes of deities and the Roman mosaics of the church of San Girolamo, which has a 16th-century wooden ceiling. Finally the great Roman terrace carved into the hill, with tombstones and architectural fragments.