VERONA, a city and episcopal see of Venetia, Italy, the capi tal of the province of Verona, situated 194 ft. above sea-level in a loop of the Adige (anc. Athesis). Pop. (1931.) 97,553 (town), 153,923 (commune). It is the point of departure to the Brenner. Churches.—The Romanesque basilica of S. Zeno (the first bishop of Verona and its patron saint), outside the ancient city, was remodelled in 1117-38, including the richly sculptured west front and the open confessio or crypt, raising the choir high above the nave. The nave (nth century) has frescoes of the 11 th 14th centuries.
The cathedral, consecrated in 1187, stands at the northern end of the ancient city, by the bank of the Adige; it is smaller than S. Zeno, but has a fine west front, rich with Romanesque sculp ture (1135) ; the upper part was added during 1565-1606. It has a noble Romanesque cloister, with two storeys of arcading. The campanile by Sammicheli is unfinished. Its baptistery, rebuilt early in the 12th century, is a quite separate building, with nave and apse, forming a church dedicated to S. Giovanni in Fonte. Pope Lucius III. (d. 1185) is buried in the cathedral. The very fine Gothic Dominican church of S. Anastasia (129o-1481), con sists of a nave in six bays, aisles, transepts, each with two eastern chapels, and an apse, all vaulted with simple quadripartite brick groining. It is specially remarkable for its very beautiful and com plete scheme of coloured decoration. The vaults are gracefully painted with floreated bands along the ribs and central patterns in each "cell," in rich soft colours on a white plastered ground. There are many fine frescoes in the interior including Pisanello's beautiful painting of St. George. This church also contains fine sculptured tombs of the 14th and 15th centuries. S. Fermo Mag giore was rebuilt in 1313 at a higher level than the earlier church (1065-1138). The roof is magnificent. Delicate patterns cover all the framework of the panelling and fill the panels themselves. Rows of half-figures of saints are painted on blue or gold grounds, forming a scheme of indescribably splendid decoration. A simpler roof of the same class exists at S. Zeno ; it is trefoil-shaped in section, with a tie-beam joining the cusps. The church of S. Maria
in Organo (1481), with a façade of 1592 from Sammicheli's de signs, contains paintings by various Veronese masters, and some fine choir-stalls of 1499 by Fra Giocondo. Though not built till after his death, the church of S. Giorgio di Braida, on the other side of the river, was also designed by Sammicheli, and possesses many good pictures of the Veronese school. The Romanesque churches of S. Lorenzo and S. Stefano are fine. That dedicated to Thomas Becket was rebuilt in the 15th century.
The strongly fortified castle (Castel Vecchio) built by Can grande II. della Scala (1354) stands on the line of the wall of Theodoric, close by the river. It contains the municipal museum and picture gallery. There are five bridges across the Adige : one, the graceful Ponte di Pietra, rests upon ancient foundations, while the two arches nearest to the left bank are Roman ; but it has been frequently restored. Remains of another ancient bridge were found in the river itself behind S. Anastasia. The 16th-century lines of fortification enclose a very much larger area than the Roman city. On a steep elevation stands the castle of St. Peter, originally founded by Theodoric, on the site, perhaps, of the earliest citadel, mostly rebuilt by Gian Galeazzo Visconti in 1393, and dismantled by the French in 1801. The episcopal palace con tains the ancient and valuable chapter library, of about 12,000 volumes and over Soo mss. (See GAms.) The Piazza delle Erbe (fruit and vegetable market) on the site of the ancient Forum and the Piazza dei Signori, adjoining one another in the oldest part of the city, are very picturesque and beautiful, being surrounded by many fine mediaeval buildings, notably the Palazzo del Comune, with a tower 273 ft. high, while in the north-east corner of the latter Piazza is the fine early Renaissance Loggia del Consiglio most likely designed by Fra Giocondo. The Piazza Vittorio Emanuele II. (also called Bra, from the Latin pratum, a meadow) to the south-west of the amphitheatre, is the tramway centre and the site of the cattle market. On it fronts the Gran Guardia, a large palace of 161o, now the Bourse.