Piazza is spread with large white umbrellas, that look like unfinished tents, and that contrast admirably with the sea of colour which flows beneath, and which varies from the many tints worn by the chattering vendors to the hues of the fruits and flowers it behoves them to sell. In the early morning the bustle and stir is at its height; trade is brisker than at any other time, and the life and movement then going on give a character to the place, hardly to be imagined by those who see it for the first time in the afternoon, when the folded umbrellas, the silence and tidiness where all was business and animation, give no real or correct idea of the Piazza. The historical interest which centres round the Piazza delle Erbe is as great as its picturesque attraction. In the days of the Romans the Forum stood here, and the shape of the Piazza is still that of a circus, though the modern houses around have somewhat narrowed the “periferia.” Before the Amphitheatre was built it was here that the gladiatorial fights were held. At the northern end stands the column of St Mark, which was placed there as has been said at the period of the League of Cambray at the moment when Verona was restored to the rule of Venice. It is formed of a single block of marble, bearing aloft the winged lion, which represented for so many years the dominion of Venice over the town of Verona. This mark of supremacy, raised in 1524, was destroyed at the moment of “Les Pâques Véronaises” in 1797; but in 1888 it was replaced, no longer as a sign of thraldom or submission but a graceful homage to “the days that are no more.” Below the column stands the fountain erected according to some by King Alboin, according to others by King Pepin in 807, and for which Berengarius introduced the water supply in 916. Its use as a fountain was not however really brought about till Cansignorio in 1370 rearranged it on thoroughly working and practical lines. This water supply is probably obtained from one of the great thermae or baths of the Romans, and is surmounted by a statue in Greek marble known as “Madonna Verona.” According to an inscription now preserved in the Museo Lapidario this statue was placed in its present position in the days of the Emperor Theodosius (380) by the Consul Valerius Palladio. The motto in “Madonna Verona’s” hands is: “est justi latrix urbs haec, et laudis amatrix,” and was put there after the peace of Constance in 1183, the year in which Verona was declared free.
A little further down is the Tribune or “Berlina,” set up in 1207, from where public decrees were formulated and sentences of death were pronounced. Here too in the days of the Scaligers was the spot where they took their oath of office. The buildings around are for the most part of interest. Immediately to the north of St Mark’s column is the Palazzo Trezza (formerly Maffei) a fine block of masonry though of Barocco style—the upper part is very inferior—and containing inside a curious spiral staircase. Close by this palace stands the “Torre del Gardello” set up by Cansignorio, where in 1370 he placed the first clock that struck the hours in Verona. To the left looking down the Piazza, stands the Casa dei Mazzanti, where Albertino della Scala lived (1301), and decorated externally with frescoes by Alberto Cavalli of Mantua in the style of Guilio Romano. On the other side of the Piazza are houses with frescoes by Liberale and Girolamo dai Libri; and beyond them is the old house of merchandise, the Casa dei Mercanti of the year 1301, in red marble, now restored and still used as a Chamber of Commerce. Almost opposite it rises the grand tower of the Lamberti, or as it is sometimes called of the Municipio, to a height of 273 feet. There is hardly a guide-book to Verona that does not say that this tower was built by the Lamberti family; a statement however that has no confirmation in any of the archives or city documents, where no mention of even a family of the name of Lamberti belonging to Verona is to be met with.
CHAPTER VIII
Piazza dei Signori—Sta. Maria Antica—Tombs of the Scaligers
Under the archway known as that of “La Costa,” from the thigh bone of some antidiluvian monster which hangs from it, the way leads from the Piazza delle Erbe to the Piazza dei Signori, or Piazza Dante as it is frequently called, a name it takes from a statue of the poet by Ugo Zannoni, placed there in 1865. This Piazza teems with every personal association relating to the Scaligers. Their public and private life centred round this spot; for while it was here that their dwelling-houses were built and their seat of government set up, it was also close by here that the little church of Sta. Maria Antica stood where they worshipped, and beside whose walls are grouped the tombs that glorify them in death.
Entering from the Piazza delle Erbe the first building on the right is the Palazzo della Ragione, now used, as in days of yore, for government offices, and where the traces of old and former windows are still to be seen. On the outside wall a tablet records that “Guglielmo dall’Ossa,” a Milanese, being “Podestă of the Comune, this palace known as that Della Ragione was built in 1183 for the public offices.” Below this tablet is an archway leading into a courtyard built chiefly of brick and marble, with fine rounded arches all much restored, and from whose midst rises a