OLD TOWN, Piazza Erbe

Hi, my name’s Marcy, and I’m your personal guide. Along with MyWoWo, I’d like to welcome you to one of the Wonders of the World: Verona Old Town.

Verona Old Town is packed with squares, streets, monuments and areas with an enormous amount of charm, often linked by arched passages.

Let’s start out from Piazza delle Erbe, in the heart of the Old Town. This spectacular and popular piazza, with its slender, tapered shape, has for some 2000 years maintained its original function as the city’s market, just as it did in Roman times. It is surrounded by centuries-old buildings on all sides, including towers, simple houses and austere noble buildings.

As for the decorative elements, take a look at the statues on top of the exuberant Baroque facade of Palazzo Maffei, and the remains of the ornamental sixteenth-century frescoes on the Mazzanti Houses. The center of the piazza is occupied by stalls with the typical white sunshades, where you can spot various monuments: the column with the Lion of St. Mark, from 1523; the fountain with the statue known as “Madonna Verona”, created in the 14th century by reshaping an ancient Roman sculpture, and the Market Column, featuring emblems that recall the brief period when Verona was under the rule of the Duchy of Milan....