Piazza dell'Erbe, Verona, Italy


Related person
Kay Bea Jones (was created by)
Description
Piazza dell'Erbe was the site of the Forum, center of city life during Roman times. The "Square of the Herbs" got its name because at one time only vegetables were sold here. The Piazza dell'Erbe has continued to fill this same role for centuries: meeting place, market place, and also home to the city's administration. The 'Palazzo Mafei' (Palace Mafei, located at the center of the image) is a Baroque building built in 1668. The six pagan divinities sculptures (Jupiter, Mercury, Venus, Apollo, Hercules and Minerva) are seen on the top of it. In front of the Palace there is a column with the Lion of St. Mark on the top (1401). The Venetian lion symbolized Venice rule over the city of Verona. The 'Torre del Gardello' (the tower of the Gardello, on the left of the Palazzo Mafei) was built in brick in 1370 by Cansignorio Sella and the bell-shaped, battlemented bellfry was completed in 1626. The Piazza dell'Erbe has a column topped by the Lion of St. Mark(1401), the cinquecentesca sedan or capitello, and the column of Saint Mark of 1523. To the angle south-east of the Piazza, Mazzini Course, a series of buildings that still conserve the structural lines of the house-towers of the communal age can be observed. Keywords: Italy, Verona, Piazza delle'Erbe, Piazza Erbe, Piazza dell'Erbe, Piazza delle Erbe, residential structure, housing, house, houses, outdoor spaces, plazas, squares, piazzas, outdoor markets, portable or demountable buildings, temporary structures, bell towers, sculpture, statues, settlements. Submitted by Kay Bea Jones.
Style/Period
Roman
Byzantine (476 Fall of Western Roman Empire - 1453 CE)
17th Century (1600 - 1699 CE)