Description
The Palazzo della Ragione is the old town hall of Verona, between Piazza delle Erbe and Piazza dei Signori. It has a medieval courtyard with a Gothic staircase and a frescoed chapel, and it houses the Achille Forti Gallery of Modern Art.
In the courtyard, known as the Mercato Vecchio, the first thing to look at is the Scala della Ragione, from 1447, held up by columns: it climbs to the main floor and is part of the visit route. The palace is built around this courtyard, surrounded by a portico.
On the main floor you will find the Chapel of the Notaries, from 1408-1419, dedicated to Saints Zeno and Daniel and frescoed in the 1700s. Then the great Hall of the Columns and the Lamberti Tower, rising above the palace, both part of the museum route opened in 2014.
You can also see how it has changed. On Piazza delle Erbe is the neoclassical facade by Giuseppe Barbieri, sober and smooth. On the other sides, though, Camillo Boito's 1800s restoration brought back to light the bands of terracotta and tuff and the Romanesque triple-light windows, hidden under layers of plaster.
The palace was born after the earthquake of 1117, when the Commune took over this area and built the "Palacium Communis Veronae," one of the first public palaces in Italy. It was completed in 1194, in the corner of the old Roman forum.
On April 11, 1226, representatives of many cities of Emilia, Lombardy, Piedmont and the Veneto met here to renew the Lombard League, the alliance born in 1167 against Frederick Barbarossa. They renewed it for another 25 years.
Under Venice the palace became a kind of condominium of offices: civil and criminal courts, prisons, the Notaries' College, public granaries, salt stores. The name "della Ragione" comes from the courts.
After the famine and epidemic of 1576 the courtyard was used to sell flour: ever since it has been the Mercato Vecchio courtyard, so as not to confuse it with the grain market of Piazza Bra.
The prisons were above the Chapel of the Notaries. In 1723 a prisoner sentenced to death, locked in a cell up there, managed to start a fire that destroyed the tower. The chapel was saved and the tower was cut down just above it.
In the courtyard, known as the Mercato Vecchio, the first thing to look at is the Scala della Ragione, from 1447, held up by columns: it climbs to the main floor and is part of the visit route. The palace is built around this courtyard, surrounded by a portico.
On the main floor you will find the Chapel of the Notaries, from 1408-1419, dedicated to Saints Zeno and Daniel and frescoed in the 1700s. Then the great Hall of the Columns and the Lamberti Tower, rising above the palace, both part of the museum route opened in 2014.
You can also see how it has changed. On Piazza delle Erbe is the neoclassical facade by Giuseppe Barbieri, sober and smooth. On the other sides, though, Camillo Boito's 1800s restoration brought back to light the bands of terracotta and tuff and the Romanesque triple-light windows, hidden under layers of plaster.
The palace was born after the earthquake of 1117, when the Commune took over this area and built the "Palacium Communis Veronae," one of the first public palaces in Italy. It was completed in 1194, in the corner of the old Roman forum.
On April 11, 1226, representatives of many cities of Emilia, Lombardy, Piedmont and the Veneto met here to renew the Lombard League, the alliance born in 1167 against Frederick Barbarossa. They renewed it for another 25 years.
Under Venice the palace became a kind of condominium of offices: civil and criminal courts, prisons, the Notaries' College, public granaries, salt stores. The name "della Ragione" comes from the courts.
After the famine and epidemic of 1576 the courtyard was used to sell flour: ever since it has been the Mercato Vecchio courtyard, so as not to confuse it with the grain market of Piazza Bra.
The prisons were above the Chapel of the Notaries. In 1723 a prisoner sentenced to death, locked in a cell up there, managed to start a fire that destroyed the tower. The chapel was saved and the tower was cut down just above it.