OLD TOWN, Scaliger Tombs

At the back of Piazza dei Signori, Palazzo del Governo and Palazzo dei Tribunali are linked by an archway known as “Arco della Tortura”, or arch of torture. On the other side is a little square that in the 14th century was turned into an extravagant Gothic fantasy. This is a truly special place, virtually unrivalled in Europe: most of the square is closed off by a wrought iron grille, featuring the symbol of the Scaliger dynasty, a simple ladder.

This group of funerary monuments known as the Scaliger Tombs contains the tombs of the seven lords of the Scaliger dynasty, who governed Verona between the 13th and 14th century.

The monument is the work of different sculptors from the local area and from Lombardy and Tuscany, but the overall effect is particularly striking, forming an open-air museum of Gothic sculpture.

The complex is topped with three main tombs, in which the actual sarcophagi are located under the jagged canopies covered with statues. At the top are the equestrian sculptures of the deceased in armor....