Middle Age Verona Tour
With a 2 hours guided tour, together with one of the tourist
guides of Verona, you will visit all main monuments of Middle Age
and Scala family period. You will hear the stories of the struggle
for power among north Italian kingdoms and how the legend of Romeo
and Juliet developed from the historical feuds between families.
You will visit some of the most beautiful Romanesque and Gothic
monuments and churches.
Included in the guided itinerary: St. Anastasia church, via
Sottoriva, Scala family tombs (Arche Scaligere), Scala family
palace, the old Court of Law, Erbe square with Lamberti tower,
Gardello Tower, the fountain of Madonna Verona, the Domus
Mercatorum (guilds' house), Romeo's house and Juliet's house,
Castelvecchio (old castle).
Full Day Guided Tour in Middle Age Verona With a 4 hours guided tour, the above itinerary can be deepened with a few entrances in some of the most beautiful Middle Age churches and monuments such as Castelvecchio, the old Scala family castle that has been transformed in a very interesting museum, San Lorenzo church, Scavi Scaligeri underground museum, the Cathedral with the Romanesque Baptistery and the remains of the early Christian churches.
Further information and bookings: veronatour@gmail.com
Middle Age in Italy
In spite of its old history Italy is a quite new country. It was
unified only in 1861. Until this date the Italian peninsula was
divided into very small countries.
Especially in the Middle Age, a single town was often a small
independent republic, the Comune, or
was ruled by the most powerful family in the area becoming a Signoria:
for example the Medici in Florence, the Visconti in Milan, the
Gonzaga in Mantua, etc. With the fall of the Roman Empire
(476 a.D.) Verona, that was a flourishing town, found itself on
the way of all the main barbaric invasions that came from northern
and eastern Europe. Verona suffered a very dramatic decadence
especially from the VII until the X century. In this time span
almost nothing in town was built in stone or bricks. The old
magnificent Roman buildings kept on falling apart and the
population decreased because of wars, famine and diseases. It is
only with the beginning of the second millennium that Verona,
together with many other cities in northern Italy, started
gradually to flourish again thanks to a development of
agriculture, industry and trade systems. Verona became one of the
many wealthy Comunes of northern Italy. Public buildings
and churches started to be built again. Then came the wars between
the Emperor of the Holy Roman Empire and the
Comunes of northern Italy who wanted to protect the
independence they had gained, and the feuds between the Guelfi
(Pope party) and
Ghibellini (Emperor party) that probably is
the scenario in which Romeo and Juliet legend developed.
Middle Age in Verona
In the struggle for power the Scala family, a wealthy family of wool merchants and knights, gradually took the total control of Verona and its surrounding territory, making Verona one of the most powerful and flourishing town in Italy in the XIV century. Under the rule of Cangrande della Scala Dante, escaping from Florence where he had been condemned to death, arrived in Verona and spent 8 years at the Scala family palace. Giotto too came in Verona and painted few masterpieces that unfortunately were lost. The Scala family kept the power in Verona until the end of the 1300s, followed by the struggle to get control of Verona between neighboring towns who tried to fill the void left by the dissolution of the Scala leaders. In 1405 Verona asked the new "super power" of that time, Venice, to take control over the town future. Under Venice a new, long period of peace and stability started, but Verona lost for ever its independence. In less then a hundred years the Scala family built monuments, churches, palaces, castles and towers, not just in Verona but all over the surrounding territory.
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