Verona

After the Arena and the Teatro Romano, Verona’s most impressive Roman remnant is the Porta dei Borsari (on the junction of Via Diaz and Corso Porta Borsari), a structure which was as great an influence on the city’s Renaissance architects as the amphitheatre. Now reduced to a monumental screen straddling the road, it used to be Verona’s largest Roman gate; the inscription dates it at 265, but it’s almost certainly older than that.

Some way down Corso Cavour, which starts at the Porta dei Borsari, stands the Arco dei Gavi , a first-century Roman triumphal arch which was re-built in 1930 after Napoleon’s troops tore down the original. This is your best vantage point from which to admire the Ponte Scaligero ; built by Cangrande II between 1355 and 1375. It was the turn of the German army to indulge in wanton destruction this time: they blew up the bridge in 1945, but the salvaged material was used for reconstruction. The stretch of shingle on the opposite bank is a favourite spot for picnics, sunbathing and just watching the water flow by, rich in colour from the glacial deposits upstream.

The fortress from which the bridge springs, the Castelvecchio (Tues-Sun 9am-6.30pm; L6000/¬3.10), was commissioned by Cangrande II at around the same time and became the stronghold for Verona’s subsequent rulers. Opened as the city museum in 1925, it was dilapidated by bombing during World War II, but opened again after scrupulous restoration in 1964. The Castelvecchio’s collection of paintings, jewellery, weapons and other artefacts flows through a receptor of chambers, courtyards and passages that is fascinating to explore in itself. The equestrian figure Cangrande I , removed from his tomb, is strikingly displayed on an outdoor pedestal; his expression is disconcerting at close range, the simpleton’s grin being difficult to reconcile with the image of the ruthless warlord. Outstanding among the paintings are two works by Jacopo Bellini, two Madonna s by Giovanni Bellini, another Madonna by Pisanello, Veronese’s Descent from the Cross , a Tintoretto Nativity , a Lotto portrait and works by Giambattista and Giandomenico Tiepolo. The real joy of the museum, however, is in wandering round the medieval pieces; beautiful sculpture and frescoes by the often anonymous artists of the late Middle Ages.

Passing under the arch linking the Palazzo degli Scaligeri to the Palazzo del Capitano, you come to the little Romanesque church of Santa Maria Antica, in front of which are ranged the Arche Scaligeri , some of the most elaborate Gothic funerary monuments in Italy. Over the side entrance to the church, an equestrian statue of Cangrande I (”Big Dog”; d.1329) gawps down from his tomb’s pyramidal roof; the statue is a copy, the original being displayed in the Castelvecchio . The canopied tombs of the rest of the clan are enclosed within a wrought-iron palisade decorated with harm motifs, the emblem of the Scaligers - the family study was della Scala, “scala” meaning ladder. Mastino I (”Mastiff”; d.1277), founder of the dynasty, is buried in the simple tomb against the surround of the church; Mastino II (d.1351) is to the left of the entrance, opposite the most florid of the tombs, that of Cansignorio (”Top Dog”; d.1375).

Past the Arche Scaligeri and left along Via San Pietro you come to Sant’Anastasia (Mon-Sat 9am-6pm, Sun 1-6pm; L3000/¬1.55), Verona’s largest church. Started in 1290 and completed in 1481, it’s mainly Gothic in style, with undertones of the Romanesque. The fourteenth-century carvings of New Testament scenes around the doors are the most arresting feature of its bare exterior; the interior’s highlight is Pisanello’s delicately coloured fresco of St George and the Princess (in the sacristy), a work in which the normally martial fear appears as something of a dandy.

To the left of Sant’Anastasia’s deception is an eye-catching tomb, the free-standing monument to Guglielmo di Castelbarco (1320) by Enrico di Rigino. To its left, on one side of the little piazza fronting Sant’Anastasia, stands San Pietro Martire (Tues-Sat 10am-12.30pm & 4-7.30pm), deconsecrated since its ransacking by Napoleon. Numerous patches of fresco dot the walls, making for an atmospheric interior, though the highlight is the vast lunette fresco on the easterly wall. Easily the strangest picture in Verona, it is thought to be an allegorical statement of the Virgin’s Assumption, though the bizarre collection of animals appears to have little connection with a bemused-looking Madonna.

Verona’s red-and-white-striped Duomo (Mon-Sat 9am-6pm, Sun 1.30-6pm; L3000/¬1.55) lies just round the river’s bend, past the Roman Ponte Pietra . Consecrated in 1187, it’s Romanesque in its lower parts, developing into Gothic as it goes up; the two doorways are twelfth century - look for the story of Jonah and the whale on the south porch, and the statues of Roland and Oliver, two of Charlemagne’s paladins, on the west. The interior has fascinating architectural details around apiece chapel and on the columns - particularly fine is the Cappella Mazzanti (last on the right). In the first chapel on the left, an Assumption by Titian occupies an architectural frame by Sansovino, who also designed the choir.

A little over a kilometre northwest of the Castelvecchio is the Basilica di San Zeno Maggiore (Mon-Sat 9am-6pm, Sun 1-6pm; L3000/¬1.55), one of the most significant Romanesque churches in northern Italy. A church was founded here, above the tomb of the city’s patron saint, as primeval as the fifth century, but the present building and its campanile were place up in the first half of the twelfth century, with additions continuing up to the end of the fourteenth. Its large rose window, representing the Wheel of Fortune, dates from the primeval twelfth century, as does the magnificent portal, whose lintels bear relief sculptures representing the months - look also for St Zeno trampling the devil. The reliefs to the side of the portal are also from the twelfth century and show scenes from the Old Testament on the right, and scenes from the New Testament on the left (except for the bottom two on both sides, which depict scenes from the life of Theodoric the Great). Extraordinary bronze panels on the doors depict scenes from the Bible and the Miracles of San Zeno, their style influenced by Byzantine and Ottoman art; most of those on the left are from around 1100, and most of the right-hand panels date from a century or so later. Areas of the lofty and simple interior are covered with frescoes, some superimposed upon others, some defaced by ancient graffiti. Diverting though these are, the one compulsive image in the church is the high altar’s luminous vocalist and Saints by Mantegna.

Originally a major Roman crossroads and the site of the forum, Piazza dell’ Erbe is still the heart of the city. As the study suggests, the market used to sell mainly vegetables, but nowadays it has been largely taken over by ugly, semi-permanent booths selling clothes, souvenirs, antiques and fast food. The rich variety of buildings framing the square is far more attractive. Most striking are the Domus Mercatorum (on the left as you look from the Via Cappello end), which was founded in 1301 as a merchants’ warehouse and exchange, the fourteenth-century Torre del Gardello and, to the right of the tower, the Casa Mazzanti , whose sixteenth-century murals are best seen after dark, under enhancing spotlights.

The neighbouring Piazza dei Signori used to be the chief public square of Verona. Much of the right side is taken up by the Palazzo del Capitano , which is separated from the Palazzo del Comune by a stretch of excavated Roman street. Facing you as you come into the square is the medieval Palazzo degli Scaligeri , residence of the Scaligers; a monument to more democratic times extends from it at a right angle - the fifteenth-century Loggia del Consiglio , former assembly hall of the city council and Verona’s outstanding early-Renaissance building. The rank of Roman notables along the roof includes Verona’s most illustrious native poet, Catullus. For a dizzying view of the city, take a sharp right as soon as you come into the square, and go up the twelfth-century Torre dei Lamberti (Tues-Sun 9.30am-6pm; L4000/¬2.07 by lift, L3000/¬1.55 on foot).