Description
Piazza delle Erbe has been the heart of Verona for two thousand years: the Roman forum stood here, and today it is a market among frescoed palaces, towers and monuments, under the white canopies of the stalls. It lies a few steps from Piazza dei Signori and is one of the liveliest squares in the city.
The north side is dominated by the Palazzo della Ragione and the Lamberti Tower, 84 meters high. Next to it, the Case Mazzanti show facades frescoed in the Renaissance over about 400 square meters, when Verona was called "urbs picta", the painted city.
On the opposite side stands the Baroque Palazzo Maffei, crowned by six statues of Greek gods: Jupiter, Hercules, Minerva, Venus, Mercury and Apollo. Next to it rises the Gardello Tower, from 1370, with the first documented bell clock in the city.
In the middle, the Madonna Verona fountain is made of Roman pieces assembled at the wish of Cansignorio: the statue, which holds the city's ancient motto in its hand, comes from the Roman Capitol. A little farther on is the Capitello, or Tribuna, where the new podestà received the keys to the city.
Between the arches that join the palaces hangs what is probably a whale rib: nobody knows where it came from. Perhaps it was a sign for the spice shops that opened onto the street below, and it first appears in an 18th-century print.
The market has been here since at least the 13th century. In 1564 the stalls were fixed precisely: wool here, chickens there, and near the Berlina the "wine triangle". Goethe, in 1786, found here "real mountains of fruit, vegetables, garlic, onions".
On a column of white Veronese marble, raised after Verona returned to Venice in 1517, the Lion of Saint Mark was placed in 1524. In 1797 the Jacobins pulled it down with a rope around its neck. Then Napoleon was meant to stand there, then Saint Zeno, but in the end, in 1886, a lion came back.
Beneath the square, excavations in the cellars of the Case Mazzanti have brought back the pavement of the Roman square and the remains of a large ancient building. Here the Middle Ages and the Roman era are still layered one on top of the other.
Don't miss
• The Madonna Verona fountain.
• The Case Mazzanti.
• The Lamberti Tower.
• The whale rib.
Did you know?
• In 1811 the city council planned to put a 2.67-meter statue of Napoleon on the column: the fall of his rule in 1814 stopped it.
• During Venetian rule, the heads of executed outlaws were displayed at the Capitello, so that someone could recognize them.
The north side is dominated by the Palazzo della Ragione and the Lamberti Tower, 84 meters high. Next to it, the Case Mazzanti show facades frescoed in the Renaissance over about 400 square meters, when Verona was called "urbs picta", the painted city.
On the opposite side stands the Baroque Palazzo Maffei, crowned by six statues of Greek gods: Jupiter, Hercules, Minerva, Venus, Mercury and Apollo. Next to it rises the Gardello Tower, from 1370, with the first documented bell clock in the city.
In the middle, the Madonna Verona fountain is made of Roman pieces assembled at the wish of Cansignorio: the statue, which holds the city's ancient motto in its hand, comes from the Roman Capitol. A little farther on is the Capitello, or Tribuna, where the new podestà received the keys to the city.
Between the arches that join the palaces hangs what is probably a whale rib: nobody knows where it came from. Perhaps it was a sign for the spice shops that opened onto the street below, and it first appears in an 18th-century print.
The market has been here since at least the 13th century. In 1564 the stalls were fixed precisely: wool here, chickens there, and near the Berlina the "wine triangle". Goethe, in 1786, found here "real mountains of fruit, vegetables, garlic, onions".
On a column of white Veronese marble, raised after Verona returned to Venice in 1517, the Lion of Saint Mark was placed in 1524. In 1797 the Jacobins pulled it down with a rope around its neck. Then Napoleon was meant to stand there, then Saint Zeno, but in the end, in 1886, a lion came back.
Beneath the square, excavations in the cellars of the Case Mazzanti have brought back the pavement of the Roman square and the remains of a large ancient building. Here the Middle Ages and the Roman era are still layered one on top of the other.
Don't miss
• The Madonna Verona fountain.
• The Case Mazzanti.
• The Lamberti Tower.
• The whale rib.
Did you know?
• In 1811 the city council planned to put a 2.67-meter statue of Napoleon on the column: the fall of his rule in 1814 stopped it.
• During Venetian rule, the heads of executed outlaws were displayed at the Capitello, so that someone could recognize them.