Churches of Venice

Sant'Anastasia
Piazza Sant'Anastasia

Sant'Eufemia
Piazzetta Sant'Eufemia

History
There was a church here in the 12th century, built after the 1117 earthquake and consecrated in 1140, with legend having it that it replaced one here by the 6th century. The building we see today, begun in 1275, was an enlargement by the mendicant order of Augustinians, brought here in 1262 by the della Scala family. This new church was consecrated in 1331, but before the end of the century the complex was further enlarged. In 1340 Mastino II della Scala enabled the building the long presbytery, by allowing the monks to close street, and in 1361 Diamante dal Verme paid for more work there, and the Gothic altar. In 1390 the Spolverini Chapel was built under the supervision of Nicolò da Ferrara who had worked on parts of San Zeno. The church was said to have been a favourite of Dante during his years of exile in Verona and he may have stayed here in1320.
During the 18th century the building underwent to various alterations to the façade and the interior. The vaulted ceiling was built to hide the roof trusses and the arch was added dividing the presbytery from the nave . These years also saw the decline of the monastery, depopulated by the plague of 1630 and, suppressed and looted by Napoleon, it was made into a military hospital. Used for worship again under the Austrians, it returned to military use during the Italian wars of independence. Restoration during the early 20th century, but on 25th April 1945 the retreating Germans blew up the nearby Vittoria bridge which seriously damaged Sant'Eufemia's facade. During rebuilding a pseudo-medieval rose window replaced the 18th-century lancet window, visible in the photo from 1938, see right.

Façade
Typically Veronese, but with added Gothic lancet windows topped by classical pediments and a pale marble Venetian doorway installed in 1486. These have been described in one guidebook as 'mongrel additions'.

Interior
A huge but aisleless church with what might be called a depressed barrel-vault ceiling. There are seven shallow and ornate altars down each side of the nave. A screen dividing the apse from the nave was removed in 1602. The current interior derives from a Baroque rebuilding of 1739 by Fra Pellegrino Mosconi. The chancel is still Gothic in effect, but even here Mosconi raised the floor. There are windows up on the right but they're blocked in opposite. The side altars now have panels with the names of artists and subjects, and are numbered in reference to a leaflet provided, in Italian.
There are some impressive altarpieces by the likes of Torbido (Saints Barbara, Anthony Abbot and Rocco), Domenico Brusasorci (a Virgin and Six Saints), his son Felice Brusasorci (The Crucifixion, small and high up left of the entrance), and Giovanni Domenico Cignaroli (Virgin and Saint Thomas of Villanova) from the 18th century.
The crossing is a shallow transept effect with a very deep apse with a modern decorated ceiling and two flanking chapels entered through doors. The left side has the organ, the right arm has a very damaged fresco of the Coronation of the Virgin detached from the wall outside, with it's sinopia displayed in the chapel beyond, the highlight 14th century Spolverini chapel, which is very decorated and retains its Gothic feel (see angel panel right) with early renaissance fresco work by Giovan Francesco Caroto . These frescoes depict stories from the Journey of Tobias (see below - The Return of Tobias). There is also a triptych by him of Three Archangels flanked by panels of Saint Lucy and Saint Apollonia. The central panel is a copy, the original being now in the Castelvecchio.

Cloister
The Augustinian monastery originally had two. The oldest, reached through the door to the left of the church, was built by architect Domenico Curtoni in 1617 (see right) and is now used by a school. In the 17th century Bernardino Muttoni was commissioned to fresco the lunettes with Episodes from the Life of Sant'Agostino. No traces remain.

Lost art
The panel with Three Archangels (c.1512-13) by Giovan Francesco Caroto has been in the Castelvecchio since 1878. The painting now over the altar in the Spolveroni dal Verme chapel, for which it was painted, is a copy.
Eight damaged 14th century fresco fragments from the cloister here are in the Castelvecchio - a Crucifixion, attributed to the Maestro del Redentore, parts of two panels of the Virgin Enthroned, two fragments of saints by the First San Zeno Master, and three heads by the Circle of the Second San Zeno Master.
Predella panels showing scenes from the Life of Saint Barbara by Nicola Giolfino are now in the Castelvecchio.
Three bronze panels which decorated the sacristy's alter, made in the early 16th century by Andrea Briosco, known as il Riccio, were looted by Napoleon and never returned. They represented the Nativity, Deposition and Resurrection. Wooden copies are in place today.

Vasari said (of Caroto's work mentioned above)
...having been commissioned by the men who governed the Company of the Angel Raphael to paint their chapel in the Church of S. Eufemia, he executed therein two stories of the Angel Raphael in fresco, and in the altarpiece, in oils, three large Angels, Raphael in the centre, and Gabriel and Michael on either side, and all with good draughtsmanship and colouring. He was reproached, indeed, for having made the legs of those Angels too slender and wanting in softness; to which he made a pleasant and gracious answer, saying that even as Angels were represented with wings and with bodies, so to speak, celestial and ethereal, as if they were birds, so it was only right to make their legs lean and slender, to the end that they might fly and soar upwards with greater ease.

Opening times Daily 9.30–11.30 & 4.00–7.30

A group called Verona Minor Hierusalem staffs touristic visit times for this church, amongst others. The times they publicise for this church are Saturday 10.00 - 5.30

Santa Caterina
Santa Caterina alla Ruota
Via Guglielmo Marconi

History
A monastery dedicated Santa Caterina just outside the walls of Verona was demolished in 1517. The Republic of Venice had ordered the demolition of all the buildings within a mile of the city walls, resulting in the loss of many religious houses. The nuns moved to houses here and construction of a new church and the rebuilding of structures owned by them began in 1563, with the church consecrated by bishop Girolamo Michele Nichesola of Teano on 23 January 1564. The church had three altars, the greater dedicated to Saint Catherine, the others dedicated to Saints Martin and Ursula.
The church and the monastery underwent rebuilding in the 18th century, with a baroque façade designed by architect Giuseppe Montanari, The altar was also rebuilt at this time, to be more monumental.

The monastery was restored by the sculptors Angelo Finali, Ambrogio Pagani, Pietro Maderna and Giuseppe Rangheri, the painter Michelangelo Prunati, the stuccoist Giuseppe Antonio Galetti and the masters Giovanni Pozzo and Pietro Pozzo.
Church and monastery were suppressed by Napoleon in 1820, with the church reopening for worship in 1848. Various charities and a hospital have occupied the monastery complex.

Façade
The baroque façade is inhabited by many statues. Above the door is an oval with Saint Catherine holding a palm and the wheel of her martyrdom. In flanking niches are statues of two popes. Along the roofline are two allegorical figures and two saints by Francesco Zoppi.

Interior
An aisleless nave with a barrel vault and lunettes. Mostly16th-century art - eleven canvases of Stories from the Life of Saint Catherine by Biagio Falcieri, Christ and the Adulteress, attributed to Felice Cappelletti, a Saint Catherine by Sante Creara, and The Saviour with San Mauro and San Benedetto by Domenico Brusasorzi.

Lost art
The Mystic Marriage of Saint Catherine with Saints Rustico, Martin, Lucy, Zeno and Fermo (The Seven Saints Altar) attributed to the Maestro del Redentore (see below right) and The Thirty Bible Stories panel, are both from the early 14th century and now in the Castelvechio. The Thirty Bible Stories include some unusual scenes, some from the apocryphal gospels, including The Virgin praying at the Temple while her companions spin (see below).
A still-polychromed statue of Saint Catherine from the church here by the Master of Sant'Anastasia (see right) is in the Castelvecchio.

Santa Caterina da Siena
via Venti Settembre

History
The convent of Santa Caterina da Siena dates to the late 15th century. In 1493 houses and land to the west of the Montorio river, belonging to Umiliati friars, were bought for the building of a monastery for Dominican nuns. Work was finished by 1495, the complex including a church, probably 14th-century church, which the nuns used until land was bought beyond the river and a new church, dedicated to Santa Caterina da Siena, was built, being completed in 1604.

The convent was suppressed by Napoleonic decree, becoming state property with the church and monastery becoming a barracks, by the end of the 1830s becoming a provianda, an army food storage depot, with more building later in the century, by the Austrian army, including bread ovens and innovative grain silos. The latter were later installed at the more famous Provianda di Santa Marta, also in Verona, which is a prettier building, but doesn't preserve the silos as they are preserved here, making them of more industrial archaeological interest.
The church has long been disused.

The church
A single nave, for use as a warehouse the interior was divided into two floors with wooden flooring. The facade of the church retains its 17th-century door case and a blocked-up rose window, with more windows opened up to better light the warehouse spaces.

The church is to the right, the silos top left.

Santa Cecilia
Vicolo Santa Cecilia

Santa Chiara
Via Santa Chiara

History
The church of Santa Cecilia was built on the site of the building now at number 9 vicolo Santa Cecilia. The earliest documents date the church to the 11th century. Paolo Veronese married, Elena Badile here on April 26, 1566, she being the the daughter of the painter Antonio Badile, his first teacher. Suppressed in 1806, the church was sold to private individuals and in 1854 transformed into a house. From a door in the corner at no. 9 it's possible to access a small courtyard where the remains of the Renaissance sacristy and rectory remain, and the tuff and brick Romanesque bell tower still stands.

Lost art
The courtly Saints Cecilia, Tiburtius and Valerian triptych of c.1480 (see below) by Antonio Badile II (1424-c.1507) is in the Castelvecchio. The Acts of Saint Cecilia say that Valerian was her husband and Tiburtius his brother.

History
Supposedly at the suggestion of the Franciscan Bernardino of Siena in 1422 a convent of Poor Clares was established here, with nuns coming from Mantua. Old buildings here were rebuilt from 1425 to 1437, the year that the church opened, with the facade completed in 1453 and the altar consecrated in 1454. Full consecration by the Bishop of Verona, Matteo Giberti, followed on the 21st of March 1536 .
Suppressed in 1810, the complex became a barracks and the church an Austrian military warehouse.
In 1860 restored to nuns when major restoration work was started, with work on the presbytery and a dome built over the high altar. More minor restorations were carried out in 1897, with the creation of two side chapels and the removal of floor tombs, and in 1906 there was work described at the time as 'aesthetic massacre'. The church was reconsecrated on the 2nd of February 1907.
The Poor Clares left again in 1965 and in 1974 the complex was bought by the Municipality of Verona, which converted some of it to public housing. Following building work in 2017/18 the majority of the complex has been a youth hostel since 2019 and the church has been used as a cultural centre since 2018.

Exterior
Topping the walls either side of the iron gates of the entrance from the road are two statues, one depicting San Francis and the other Sanit Clair. The façade is another in the local brick gothic style. The gothic doorcase has a lunette with a bas-relief of Saint Clare welcoming and an inscription dated MCCCCLIII (1453).

Interior
An aisleless nave, on the left is a passage that leads to a chapel dedicated to Our Lady of Lourdes, on the right there is a door leading to an oratory called the Chapel of the Deposition. The Chapel of the Addolorata has frescoes signed and dated 3rd August 1508 by Michele da Verona, but God the Father, the Redeemer, the Prophet Joshua and the Evangelists Matthew and Mark are thought to be by Francesco Morone. The vault in the choir has a fresco of The Ascension by Domenico Brusasorci

Lost art
Works now in the Castelvecchio:
A sweet Mystic Marriage of Saint Catherine panel by Francesco Rizzo da Santacroce (recorded as in the sacristy here, and attributed to Cavazzola, at the beginning of the 19th century). Cavazzola's Incredulity of Saint Thomas painted for the convent here, along with two small panels, one showing The Archangel Michael and Saint Paul and the other Saints Peter and John the Baptist.
Four panels depicting Saints Sebastian and Paul, Saints Anthony Abbot and Roch, and a panel each depicting Saint Bernardino and Saint Clare with devotees, believed to have come from the church or monastery here, and to be early works by Francesco Morone. They were said by Crowe and Cavalcaselle to be 'originally part of the organ'.
An Adoration panel by Giovanni Francesco Caroto from the church or convent here.
A high altarpiece by Brusasorci and works by Paolo Farinati are also mentioned as having been here before suppression.

Santa Felicita
Via Santa Felicita

History
The first lay fraternity in Verona was established here in 1131, with the Romanesque church consecrated on the 2nd of November 1207 by Bishop Adelardo. The dedication was to Saints Perpetua and Felicita, martyred in Carthage by Emperor Septimus Severus on the 7th of March 203. The original wooden ceiling survives, as do 14th century fresco fragments amongst the exposed brick. The presbytery was expanded in the 17th century. Suppressed by Napoleon in 1806, with some of the frescoes removed to the Castelvecchio and the Cavalcaselle Museum. The church is now a pizza restaurant.

Lost art
Twenty fragments of fresco 'brutally removed' from the walls here, depicting saints and martyrs, were sold to the Castelvecchio in 1879. They include the head of a woman by an artist from the circle of Francesco Morone.

Part of a very damaged panel showing the Virgin and Child with Saints Sebastian, Paul, Roch and Christopher by an artist from the circle of Nicola Giolfino is now in the Castelvecchio.

Santa Maria Antica
Via Arche Scaligere

History
The original church here was 7th century, and adjoined a convent. It was rebuilt in Romanesque style after the earthquake of 1117 and consecrated in 1185. The current building became the private chapel of Verona's ruling Scaligeri family. Their rule began after that of the vicious Ezzelino III da Romano in 1259 and lasted until near the end of the 14th century. They became the most powerful signori in north Italy, marrying into the Este, Visconti and Carrara families, their court attracted the likes of Dante, Giotto, Petrarch and Boccaccio. This church became their court chapel and outside the church is their famous family cemetery - the 14th century Scaligeri Tombs somewhat overpower the small church. It is enclosed by a wrought-iron fence featuring ladders, their family symbol, the name originally having been della Scala (of the steps). A design repeated in the iron work of the sanctuary gate inside.

Exterior
The exterior has bands of brick and stone with small windows, rediscovered during the 19th-century restoration. The side-door is dominated by the monument to Cangrande I della Scala, a larger-than-life figure who died in 1329. He was a friend of Dante, who called him his 'beloved greyhound' and patron to Giotto, who is said to have painted his, now lost, portrait. The equestrian statue of Cangrande is at the very top - it's actually a copy, since the original was moved to the Castelvecchio in 1910. It's by an anonymous Veronese master known as the Maestro delle Arche Scaligere. Below, just over the door, is the prince's sarcophagus, with his reclining figure, attended by his dogs. It's the first of the family's elaborate gothic monuments, the rest having been built in the adjoining family cemetery.

Interior
A nave with two aisles, around 1630 the interior was rebuilt in Baroque style, but late-19th-century work resulted in the restoration of the original Romanesque interior. The interior is impressive - bare-stone, plain columns with square capitals - buff and very antico with brick-stripe walls (with pebbles) and a small nave and apse. The only survival of the original building is a fragment of black and white mosaic floor, to be found next to the altar under a small trap door. There is one small side chapel with a carved panel depicting the Virgin and Child and a decorated ceiling with a painted dove. There's a copy of Mantegna's Dead Christ and a fragment of early-14th-century fresco in a niche behind the altar (see right).
The chapel at the end of the left aisle is dedicated to Santa Rita, with a statue and votive offerings. Her cult is currently very strong in the church.

Campanile
Positioned over the apse end, a short brick Romanesque tower (with three baroque bells) with mullioned windows and a brick-covered spire.

Opening times 7.30 - 12.30, 15.30 - 19.00

The Scaligeri Cemetery
The monument to Cangrande I della Scala over the side-door of the church was the first. The second was the four-sided freestanding tomb of Mastino II (Cangrande I's nephew and successor) which was built between 1340 and 1350 just inside the gate to the graveyard here, called the Arche Slaligeri. He lies on his bier with an angel at each corner. His equestrian statue on the spire was replaced by a copy in 1992, the original also being moved to the Castelvecchio. Next came Cangrande II, a tyrant nicknamed 'Mad Dog' , who was murdered by his brother Cansignorio, who went on to remain in power by murdering and imprisoning more popular relatives. The even-more-ornate tomb of this Cansignorio who died in 1375, at the age of 36, is the work of the Lombard sculptor Bonino da Campione, who also worked for the Visconti in Milan. It is built on a hexagonal base with six columns supporting six Gothic tabernacles with 6 saints - Quirico, Louis, Martin, Sigismund, Valentin and George. The tomb of Giovanni della Scala who died in 1359 is the work of Venetian stone-cutters and is attached to the wall of the church, having been moved from the suppressed church of San Fermo al Ponte. Also here are the simpler earlier tombs of Mastino I, the founder of the dynasty, from 1277, and his brother Alberto from 1301. Generally the more despotic the ruler the more ornate his tomb. The building opposite is the family palace, or one of them, their court having spread its palaces from the Piazza dei Signori. Mastino II and his son Cansignorio commissioned their own monuments and would have watched their construction from their palace windows.

Opening times
Thanks to volunteers you can now get into the Scaligeri cemetery,
from June to September, Tuesday to Sunday, 10.00-1.00 and 2.00-6.00. Ticket €1

Santa Maria Consolatrice
Via Duomo

History
Tradition has it that this church was built towards the end of the 8th century, dedicated to Mary, the sister of Annone the bishop of Verona on his return from Istria , from whence he'd brought the relics of the Veronese saints Fermo and Rustico. Upon his return with the remains a terrible drought that had struck Verona ended. Mary earned the name of consoler after his death and the church was dedicated to her.
Traces of the 12th century Romanesque church remain. Bishop Tebaldo placed Mary's relics here in 1320, deceived in the smell of holiness, as Google Translate would have it, maybe the odour of sanctity sounds better.
Until the 18th century, the procession that took place during periods of drought of the thorn with which Saints Fermo and Rustico had been martyred stopped here on its way from the Duomo to San Fermo.
This church was suppressed by Napoleon and closed in 1806. The relics of Santa Maria Consolatrice were translated into the last chapel in the right aisle of the Duomo, the Chapel of Sant'Agata
The abandoned church was bought in January 1879 by the Evangelical Waldensians. They restored the building and its original orientation (towards the Duomo) and the church reopened on January 6, 1880.

Lost art
The 14th century tombstone of Dinadato Spinelli is in the Castelvecchio.
The Virgin and Child with Saints Mary the Consoler and Catherine (c.1485) by Antonio Badile II (see right) from this church, probably the high altar, has been in the Castelvecchio sonce 1812.

Opening times
For Sunday service at 10.30

Santa Maria del Paradiso
Via Gaetano Trezza

History
The Servi di Maria's previous small church of Sant'Apollinare della Peccana outside the city walls, where they'd been since 1480, was suppressed and demolished by the Venetians in 1517 for defensive purposes. A new church was built for them here and consecrated on the 22nd of April 1519 by Cardinal Marco Corner.

The church looked rough, externally, and remained so even after the first interior work of 1600 and post-plague work in 1630. Between 1750 and 1754 five side chapels, the triumphal arch and the main altar were built. The Servi di Maria left in the late 18th century, when the Venetians abolished orders with less then 12 members.

In 1782 the church passed to the Gerosolimitani (Knights of Malta) from the church of San Vitale, which was prone to flooding. In 1807 the order was abolished by Napoleonic decree and the church downgraded to an oratory. During this time five statues were brought here from the church of San Francesco di Paola.

In 1842 the complex passed to the Camillians. Fr. Luigi Artini of the order took over the care of the church but he disappeared in 1872. Fr. Pimazzoni, a pupil of Fr. Artini, it was who placed the collection of relics in their own room, and he it was, in 1896, who presided over the completion of the unspecial neoclassical temple-front facade, built by the engineer Antonio Viola, and the laying of the Verona marble flooring. In the two niches on the façade are statues of Saint Camillus (the founder of the order) and Saint Vitalis by Salesio Pegrassi, and over the door is the coat of arms of the Camillian order. At the top is a projecting entablature with a Jerusalem cross in the centre and statues of Saint Zeno, The Assumption and Saint Matrone by Vittorio Bragantini.

Interior
Baroque. Aisleless with four altars each side which alternate with niches with Baroque statues of Saints by Orazio Marinali, a follower of Bernini, brought from the church of San Francesco da Paola.

The high altarpiece, painted in 1565, is an Assumption by Paolo Farinati.

The first altar on the left has a Virgin and Child fresco fragment from the church of Sant'Apollinare della Peccána mentioned above. It is by an anonymous master and set into a mosaic made in the 1940s (see right).

The second altar on the left, of the Arte de' Calieri, has an altarpiece of the Virgin and Child with Saints Roch, Bartholomew and Bernardino by Antonio Balestra.

The altarpiece in the last chapel on the left is by Orazio Farinati, the son of the more famous Paolo, depicting The Souls in Purgatory, the Holy Trinity, the Virgin and a Pope.

The last chapel on the right, of the Allegri familly, is dedicated to the 8th-century Veronese Saint Metrone, was built in the early 17th century to house the saint's relics, and has an altarpiece from 1476 by Liberale da Verona showing Saint Metrone between Saints Dominic and Anthony of Padua. To atone for his sins Metrone chained himself to a stone in front of Verona's Duomo. He threw the keys into the Adige River and lived there for seven years. The keys were later found in the belly of a fish and taken to the local bishop who freed Metrone.

The reliquary
A collection of tens of thousands of relics was brought here by the Camillian fathers and kept in a reliquary room (Sanctorum reliquiis) that they created in 1927 (see right). They brought many here and collected many more.

Campanile
Built in 1558, with further work in the 17th century, and partially built from recycled gravestones.

Opening times
A group called Verona Minor Hierusalem staffs touristic visit times for this church, and more nearby.
The times they publicise for this church are Saturday 10.00 - 5.30
The church may be open at other times too.

Bibliography
Elena Benvenuto
Guida Storico-Artistica della Chiesa e del Reliquiario di Santa Maria del Paradiso in Verona 2009
A booklet bought during a visit during the Saturday opening.

Santa Maria della Scala
Via Scala

History
Built in 1325 by the Servite order (who had a few years previously built Santa Maria dei Servi in Venice) on land given to them by Cangrande I della Scala. The church was consecrated on December 6th 1329 with building continuing throughout the 14th and 15th centuries. From 1352 a second convent was built across the via Stella linked by a wooden-roofed passage which was destroyed by bombing in 1945, and by an underground passage.
During the bombing, in January 1945, the bombs struck the roof, leaving intact the three apse-end chapels, the altar of the Madonna delle Grazie and the altar immediately opposite. The church was rebuilt, during which frescoes were discovered in the apse, and reopened in 1948.

Interior
The only original parts are the outer walls as the interior was almost totally remodelled after WWII, with stout square pink columns set out from wall. Three chapels of varying sizes down each side. A deep apse and flanking chapels.
The second chapel on right has a 14th century fresco of Virgin and Child with Saints John the Baptist and Zeno with presumed portraits of Mastino II (son of Cangrande I) and his wife Taddea da Carrara. The third chapel on the right has a Niccolò Giolfino Pentacost.

The Guantieri Chapel (to the right of the apse)

Traditionally said to house the Confalonieri family tomb, it was only in 1907 that this was discovered to be the Guantieri family chapel, particularly notably that of Paolo Filippo Guantieri di Nicolò, a mayor of Florence who belonged to a family of bankers residing in San Marco. His will stipulated burial here pending construction of the tomb, for which he left 700 ducats. He left to his executors the choice of iconography. The execution of the will was opposed by his wife Antonia because of its legacy of 100 ducats a year for 12 years. In 1343 Giovanni Badile was hired to decorate the chapel with over thirty scenes from the life of St. Jerome . The story begins in the upper left and continues on the opposite side. Separating the two bays are the six prophets, while inside the arch is a Crucifixion with St. Mary and St. John, later replaced with a Pietà . The tomb is pretty spectacular but visibly missing the three figures from the three niches stolen by Napoleon.
The apse has a high altarpiece of The Assumption by Felice Brusasorci and a very nice fresco fragment that the church leaflet wants to be by Badile too, or even Altichiero (see right).

Lost art
A panel of around 1520 by Liberale da Verona with the Adoration of the Magi on one side and Saint Peter on the other is now in the Castelvecchio.
A Virgin and Child with Saint Anne (sitting under a lemon tree with a dead dragon and three angel musicians) (see right) by Girolamo del Libri of 1510/18 is in the National Gallery in London. It was the central panel of a triptych. The left wing by Paolo Morando, also in the National Gallery depicts Saint Roch, the other was painted by Torbido and showed Saint Sebastian but is now missing. This altarpiece was commissioned for a chapel here dedicated to the Immaculate Conception, and the lemon tree, rose hedge and dead dragon are consistent with this painting being of that subject, as are the flanking panels of the plague saints Rocco and Sebastian. An inscription on the painting which may have settled the issue is too damaged to read.

Campanile
Built between 1343 and 1345 the bell was bought in 1348 in Venice.

Opening times
Update April 2023 I never found it open.

Santa Maria di Chiavica
Via Santa Maria di Chiavica

History
There is said to have been an oratory on this site, founded in 813 by the Archdeacon Pacifico; but the earliest documented mention is to the 12th-century. Rebuilding work in the 15th century, by the 16th century it was affiliated with the nearby church of Sant'Anastasia. In 1807, following Napoleonic suppression, much of the art was moved there, and the church was returned to worship in 1832, as a subsidiary of Sant'Anastasia, until 1974 when it was used as a carpentry workshop. There has been restoration work more recently. It is now deconsecrated and used for art exhibitions, theatre and events.

Art
The frescoes are by Girolamo Costantini. Remaining or lost are a Birth of the Virgin and a Nativity by Giovanni Battista Lanceni. In the second chapel is/was a Saint Francis of Sales and Saint John Nepomunk by Michelangiola Lanzeni. Also altarpieces by Eduardo Perini, Paolo Farinati, Pasquale Ottino, Giovanni Francesco Caroto, Michelangelo Aliprandi, and Francesco Turchi.

Lost art
A Virgin and Child with Saints Lawrence and Jerome panel by Giovanni Francesco Caroto, formerly in the Chapel of Saint Lawrence here, is now in the Castelevecchio.

Santa Maria in Organo
Via Santa Maria in Organo

this church has its own page

Santa Teresa degli Scalzi
Largo Don Giuseppe Chiot

History
Known as the Church of the Scalzi after the Discalced (barefoot) Carmelite nuns who built it. The order came to Verona in 1663 and was initially housed in a Dominican monastery. They then bought some buildings and the city gave them some land, and in 1666 they began building a church and convnet, to designs by Fra Giuseppi Pozzi. Construction wasn't completed until 1750, with the facade finished even later. Initially dedicated to the Virgin of the Annunciation and the Archangel Gabriel, the order rededicated the church to their patron Saint Teresa of Avila.

Interior
Octagonal with three polychrome marble baroque altars: the two side ones have twisted columns, grey in the left one, red on the right. The organ is over the door and the other four walls each have a confessional. The high altarpiece is an Annunciation, with God and putti observing from the clouds, an early and still quite baroque work (1697) by Antonio Balestra. The left-hand altar has a painted sculptural group, the right-hand a modern painting, featuring Saint Theresa I imagine, who was celebrating her 500th anniversary when I was here in 2015.

The convent and prison
The convent was suppressed on 8 July 1806 by Napoleon and was used as a prison from 1883 to 1945. Known as the Carcere degli Scalzi, the prison buildings were destroyed during WWII, on the 11th October 1944, during an allied air raid on a nearby barracks. The remains of the prison, mostly just the façade, were finally demolished in the 1970s. The photo (see right) was taken just before this demolition, the church is in the background.

The street where the church stands has been named for Don Giuseppe Chiot who was parish priest at San Luca and the prison chaplain here, remembered for his impartial humanity regardless of the prisoner's political affiliations. One of those he famously comforted was Galeazzo Ciano, Mussolini's son-in law and one of a group of six members of the Grand Council of Fascism who went on trial on the 8th of January 1944 as traitors to fascism at Castelvecchio, were found guilty, and were executed by firing squad on January 11th 1944. Several films have been made about this episode. A monument to Giuseppe Chiot stands outside the former prison site, the work of sculptor Vittore Bocchetta who got to know Chiot during his two detentions in the prison in 1943 and 1944.

Santa Toscana
Piazza XVI Ottobre

History
A Benedictine church was built here in the 11th century, adjacent to their cemetery, called Santo Sepolcro. In 1178 it was acquired possession of the Knights Hospitaller and the complex made into a hospital for pilgrims. In 1342, they acquired the relics of Santa Toscana which were placed behind the main altar. Restoration work from 1482 left it with two aisles and an unfinished third aisle. The church was consecrated by the Bishop of Verona on November 29, 1489, when the church's named changed from the Holy Sepulchre to Santa Toscana. No work since except for restoration done after the bombings of World War II.

Interior
Contains works by Liberale da Verona and a sculpture group of The Lamentation, or Christ being placed in the Sepulchre of 1502/4 by Giovanni Zebellana.

Lost art
A three-panel Predella di Santa Toscana by a follower of Liberale da Verona is now in the Castelvecchio.

Opening times
A group called Verona Minor Hierusalem staffs touristic visit times for this church, and four more nearby.
The times they publicise for this church are Saturday 10.00 - 5.30
I assume that the church might open at other times too.

Santi Apostoli
and Sante Teuteria e Tosca
Corso Cavour

History
The original church on this site was built in the 5th century which makes it, along with the adjacent Chapel of Saints Theuteria and Tosca, part of the oldest Christian complex in the Veneto. The surviving Romanesque elements date from a 12th century rebuilding, consecrated on 12th March 1194, after the earlier church was destroyed by the 1117 earthquake.
Work in the 16th century made the church taller

, as is shown on the exterior by the yellow plaster on the top half of the church, above the stone and brick layers of the original church, This work also reduced the interior to a single nave and removed the balconies for the female members of the congregation. The church was very damaged during a bombing raid on 14th January 1945.

Interior
After the attractive exterior and campanile the interior is somewhat dull - aisleless with what might be called a depressed barrel-vault ceiling, and four largish side chapels, the frontmost pair domed and more ornate. A Giotto-ish processional Crucifix of the 14th century in the first chapel on the right. Works by Felice Brusasorci (an Adoration of the Magi), Turchi, Cignani, Ligozzi and some remains of 12th /13th century frescoes.

Campanile
Finished in 1110 and made of brick, tufa, and cobbles taken from the bed of the Adige.

Opening times
Monday-Friday 8.00 to 12.00, 15.30 to 19.30

The attached chapel of
Sante Teuteria and Tosca (see photo above)
was here in the 5th century and consecrated in 751 making it one of the oldest church in the Veneto region. Originally Greek-cross shaped, as it was a funerary chapel, it attained its current form when it became the Bevilacqua family chapel in the 14th century. It is below ground level, with its floor two meters lower than that of the church of Santi Apostoli because that was the the street level in Roman times. In 1160 during reconsecration the bodies of the two saints were found, it is said, and placed in a red marble tomb. To the right of the altar is the tomb of Francesco Bevilacqua, consigliere to Cangrande II.

Lost manuscript
Presented for exhibition and sale in late 2018, The Book of Saints Theuteria and Tosca is also lusciously illustrated in a book/catalogue called Four Remarkable Manuscripts from the Middle Ages, with text by Christopher de Hamel. The manuscript was, he says 'surely made' for this chapel and 'most probably' written for Bartolomeo della Scala and his wife Costanza of Antioch. The sale was the first appearance of the manuscript for four hundred years. It had passed to the convent of Santa Maria delle Vergine in Campo Marzio in the late 14th century.

Lives of the Saints
The above-mentioned manuscript is the longest and most detailed account of the lives of Saints Theuteria and Tosca. Theuteria was an English woman of noble birth who the English King Osgualdus took a fancy too. She, having already dedicated her life to Christ, rejected him, so turning the king against her and her father. After initially hiding in a fortified tower she finally fled to Europe, ending up in Verona, where she met and spoke with Tosca, an anchoress living in in a cell outside the city, who is said to have been the sister of Proculus, the Bishop of Verona. Meanwhile the Devil had made King Osgualdus send agents to find Theuteria. When she heard this she fled back to Tosca, but the hermitage had no door, only a small window. But miraculously Theuteria was born aloft and through the window, so that when the agents arrived they found no trace of her, and the window had been covered in spider webs - the scenes illustrated in a spread from the above manuscript see right. The two women became famous and their hermitage much visited, with their relics responsible for many miracles after their death.

Opening times
A group called Verona Minor Hierusalem staffs touristic visit times for this church, amongst others. The times they publicise for this church are
Saturday 10.00 - 5.30
The church may be open at other times too.

Santi Nazaro e Celso
Largo San Nazaro

History
An earlier church on this site existed by the 9th century, but being outside the city walls it was burned down during the Magyar invasion of 951. The building of this church and its Cassinese Benedictine monastery began on the 13th of October 1464. Building was completed on 6th April 1466 and an inscription inside records the date of consecration as February 14th 1483.

More work in the 16th century - the interior was restored in 1510 and in 1575 the chancel was extended and barrel-vaulted and frescoed by Paolo Farinati. In 1688 the enclosed baroque courtyard was built, along with its monumental entrance archway.
In 1770 the monastery was abolished by decree of the Venetian Senate, but the church and monastery were immediately purchased by Benedictine nuns from San Daniele, who settled here, carrying out renovation work on the monastery and remaining until the Napoleonic suppression of religious orders in 1806-10. Over the door in the lunette is a fresco of The Virgin with Saints Nazario and Celso by Paul Ligozzi from 1601.

The gateway
The gateway to the area in front of the church, made in 1688 by stonemason Antonio Saletti, (see right) is known as 'the portal of the sheets' because of the perfectly positioned carved representation of cloths tied around the two pairs of Doric columns.

Interior
A nave with aisles five bays long with large square pillars.
In the left aisle the second chapel has a Virgin in Glory with Saints John the Baptist, Anthony Abbot, Benedict and Blaise, signed and dated of 1543, by Antonio Badile. The page bottom right is said to be the young Paolo Veronese, Badile having been Veronese's teacher (and later father-in-law) and the painting having been made during Paolo's apprenticeship.
The fifth chapel has a Virgin and Child with Saints Peter, Paul and Margaret by Domenico Brusasorci, with a lunette (Christ Entrusts the Keys to Saint Peter) by him too.
The left arm of the transept is the spectacular chapel of San Biagio (Saint Blaise) (see below right) built to house the saint's relics, which were given to the monastery in 1174 by a German crusader along with those of Saint Juliana. He had, it is said in the leaflet provided by the church, 'found them in the orient'. The chapel's decorative conception and most of its frescos, are the work of Giovanni Maria Falconetto, begun March 7th 1488, completed 1528. His work was completed by Domenico and Francesco Morone between 1497 and 1499, with contributions by Cavazzola and Bartolomeo Montagna. This chapel saw conservation work in 1996.
Also here is the 1519 altarpiece by Francesco Bonsignori of The Virgin and Child in Glory with Saints Blaise, Sebastian (stripped and bound and awaiting punishment) and Juliana, who is chaining the devil, with a slightly later predella by Girolamo dai Libri (The Miracle of Saint Blaise (where he saves a boy choking on a fish bone whilst being taken to jail), The Martyrdom of Saint Sebastian and The Martyrdom of Saint Juliana) of 1526. Too far away to appreciate.
Inside the arch above is an Annunciation by Cavazzola. Marble altar tombs of Saints Biagio and Juliana by Bernardino Panteo. Martyrdom of two saints.
The apse is frescoed by Paolo Farinati (and signed and dated 1575) also four paintings by him of Stories of Saint Celso. In the right transept is the door to the Sacristy, which has 15th century inlaid walnut cabinets and a triptych by Felice Brusasorci (Virgin with Saints Peter, Paul, Augustine and Benedict).
The right aisle second altar has an Annunciation and lunette of Adam and Eve by Paolo Farinati. The fourth an Ecce Homo by Flacco, a pupil of Badile 1529-75. The first aisle has a movement-filled Conversion of St Paul by Bernardino India.
The paintings on the organ shutters, above the door, are by Giovanni Battista Brusasorci, Domenico's son, and depict Musical Angels.

Campanile
Venetian style and built by Francesco da Castello in 1550/51.

Cave art?
Old guide books speak of Ancient Christian wall paintings in chapel/caves carved into cliffs behind the church - The most ancient pictorial remains in the Venetian territory - and a tomb which has never been opened.

Lost art
A pair of painted limestone figures of Saints Gregory and Ambrose from c.1320/50 which were seen in the chapter house here in 1800, but which may have originally been displayed elsewhere. The façade is the most likely place, but their unweathered condition suggests that they have always lived indoors. They are now in the V&A in London.
A panel fragment, from a polyptych painted for the high altar here in 1500/02, depicting the top halves of Saint Blaise and a Bishop Saint (San Mauro?) by Bartolomeo Montagna (who also contributed to the frescoes in the chapel of San Biagio here) is in the Castelvecchio. Four more fragments, showing a Dead Christ Supported by Angels and three pairs of saints (two pairs full length) are still here (in the right transept?) There were originally seven panels, the central one being a Virgin and Child, now lost.
Large fresco panels of The Baptism of Christ with four roundels of the Evangelists, by Franceso Morone, are in the Castelvecchio.
The Feast in the House of Simon of 1556 by Paolo Veronese (see above) was painted for the refectory here. It is the earliest surviving of his big feast scenes and is now in the Galleria Sabauda in Turin. A copy by Sebastiano Ricci, made in 1716-18, is in the British Royal Collection.
A Mystic Marriage of Saint Catherine by Pasquale Ottino is now in the Castelvecchio.
An antiphonal from this church illuminated by Girolamo dai Libri and his father's workshop is now in the V&A's National Art Library (MSL/1866/4929) in London. A date of inventory of 1492 is noted on the first leaf.

Opening times
A group called Verona Minor Hierusalem staffs touristic visit times for this church, amongst others. The times they publicise for this church are Saturday 10.00 - 5.30
I assume that the church will be open at other times too.

Santi Siro and Libera

History
Legend has it that Christianity was introduced to Verona when Saint Syrus celebrated the first mass here after performing a miracle, having stopped off on the way to becoming the first bishop of Pavia. Tradition has it that this mass was celebrated in a grotto once accessible through a passage behind a panel in the apse here. Legend also states that he was the small boy who gave the five loaves to Jesus during the miracle of the multiplication of the loaves and fishes. The dedication to Saint Liberata was added in the 14th century. Now part of the Roman Theatre complex, the church was founded in the 10th century, built above a section of the arcading of the theatre. It then passed to the Confraternity of the Blessed Body of Christ in 1518. The original church is now the trapezoid-shaped nave. The church was enlarged in the 17th, which work involved the demolition of the adjacent 14th-century church of Santa Maria della Cava. The façade has a baroque staircase but the original 14th century doorway and porch. Following Napoleonic suppression in 1806 the church and it fittings were put up for auction, but were reacquired by the confraternity and the church reopened in1814. The church was spared demolition in the 19th century as part of the project to redevelop the theatre complex, but in becoming part of the archaeological complex it fell out of use. It was

abandoned just before WWII and the confraternity disbanded.

Interior
Centrally planned and baroque, there are four nave altars and two side chapels. In the nave to the right of the apse entrance is an Assumption by Francesco Morone from 1524. The first chapel on the left has a Virgin and St Gaetano , showing the saint's vision of the Virgin, of 1751 by Giambettino Cignaroli, who is buried in the nave here, he having been a member of the Confraternity here, along with artists Francesco Morone and Pasquale Ottino. Also from the 18th century are the very decorated high altar and presbytery, the German-made walnut choir stalls behind (1717-1729) begun by Andreas Kraft and completed by Petendorf and Siut, and an Annunciation painted by Ridolfi.

Lost art
Four damaged fragments in tempera on panel by Francesco Morone, showing the Virgin, Saint Paul, Saint Anthony of Padua and Saint John the Evangelist are in the Castelvecchio.
A still partially polychromed 14th-century statue of Saint Liberata by a sculptor from the circle of the Master of Sant'Anastasia (see right) is in the Castelvecchio.

Opening times
A group called Verona Minor Hierusalem staffs touristic visit times for this church, and four more nearby. The times they publicise are
Thursday, Friday, Saturday, Sunday 10.00 - 5.30.
I'm not sure how this will work, with the church being in the Roman Theatre complex.
Update April 2023 The website mentioned above says that this church has been closed for restoration work (since November 2019) and there still does seem to be considerable work going on in the theatre complex.

Santissima Trinità in Monte Oliveto
Via Santissima Trinità

History
A church and monastery has been here since the late 11th century, built by Vallombrosian friars, a stricter order on Benedictines, from around 1073. The church was consecrated on 12th January 1117. The chapel north of the chancel remains from this first Romanesque church, as does the campanile. Parts of the portico date from the 12th to the 16th centuries, a period during which the church underwent various building works. In the 14th century Abbot Bartolomeo lengthened the building and commissioned the Trinity Supported by Angels in the new apse, as well as the Coronation of the Virgin with Saints by Turone di Maxio now in the Castelvecchio museum.
The façade under the portico dates from enlargement in the 16th century. The Vallambrosians left in 1441 and from 1536 the complex was used as a refuge for women. A loggia with a grating was built for them in the church. The church had fallen into ruinous disuse by the 19th century.
Both cloisters and one of the east-end chapels was destroyed during bombing on 6th April 1945. The late 20th century removal of whitewash led to the subsequent restoration of discovered frescoes.

Interior
Entry is through an odd large porch (see above) suggestive of a small cloister.
The interior is long and narrow with a deep organ gallery over the door and much old fresco work. There are a pair of flanking altars with frescoes as you emerge from under the organ gallery. On the left is a very damaged Mystic marriage of Saint Catherine. On the right, one under the gallery, are works by Domenico Brusasorci and Felice, his father.
Panels of 14th century frescoes on the left hand wall as you approach the east end, dated 1359, and over and in the chancel. The top row on the left wall depicts Stories from the Life of Christ, the lower Stories from the Life of Saint Martin.
The Annunciation on the arch over the apse is said to be by Martino da Verona, the courtly Apostles in the vaults the work of Jacopo da Verona. Abbot Bartolomeo is depicted beneath Gabriel in The Annunciation, the whole wall seemingly built asymmetrically to fit him in (see below right).
A pair of sweet little transepts flank the apse. The irregular shape of the right-hand one is said to represent the extra pressure imparted on the right-hand side of the cross by Jesus' shoulder. On right hand-wall opposite the wall of frescoes are three unframed canvases, two by Brusasorci and one by Jacopo Ligozzi.

Lost art
The Trinity Polyptych by Turone di Maxio (see below) signed and dated 1360, depicting the Trinity flanked by Saints Zeno, John the Baptist, Peter and Paul, from the refectory of the convent here, but probably originally on an altar in the church, went to the Castelvecchio in 1812. It had two more panels depicting The Annunciation, which are now in a private collection.
A Crucifixion fresco panel (now in three parts) by the Circle of Altichiero, from the cloister here, has been in the Castelvecchio since 1879.
Augustus and the Sybil, a rare work on panel by Gianmaria Falconetto, which looks very like a stage set, now in the Castelvecchio, came from the refectory of the convent here.

Campanile
Part of the original building, the tower rests on a foundation of stones from Roman ruins.

Opening times
None posted, but I've usually found it open when you'd expect it to be, if that's any help.

Santo Stefano
Vicolo Scaletta Santo Stefano

History
Tradition has it that the original church here was built in the 5th century, and was the cathedral of Verona from 412 to 750, erected on the burial site where 40 Veronese martyrs were interred, and that it was destroyed by Theodoric. But the original church here was likely a cemetery chapel housing the relics of St Stephen. Following this rebuilding in the 8th century it would have been rebuilt again in the 10th century as, being outside the city walls, it was burned down during the Magyar invasion of 951. Following the earthquake of 1117 it was rebuilt yet again. The 12th-century façade was used to record local events, with inscriptions, such as floods and the collapse of bridges. The visit of the German Emperor Frederick II in 1245, when he spent a month in Verona, is commemorated. His entourage included 24 camels, 5 lions and an elephant. The apse was remodelled in the 14th century.

Interior
Flat-roofed with chunky square piers dividing the nave from the aisles.
The right aisle has a baroque chapel from 1619-21 with gilded mannerist stucco attributed to David Reti. This is Cappella Varalli, or The Chapel of the Innocents, built to celebrate the housing of the bones of five early bishops (Florentius, Vindemalis, Maurus, Andronicus and Probus) and the relics of the forty martyrs of Verona, put to death by Diocletian, in the crypt here, and the children murdered by Herod. The altarpieces, from the left, are The Forty Saint Martyrs of Verona of 1619 by Alessandro Turchi (known as Orbetto), The Massacre of the Innocents by Pasquale Ottino from c.1619, and The Five Bishop Saints of Verona by Marcantonio Bassetti from c.1619. Ottino also painted the panels in the stucco of The Assumption and Virtues.
In the extra left aisle are two altars and a central deep chapel, dedicated to the Immaculate Conception in 1905, mirroring the Capella degli Innocenti opposite in position, decoration and size.
By the stairs down to the crypt on both sides are 13th century monochrome frescoes by Battista del Moro of St Stephen Ordained as a Deacon by St Peter and The Burial of St Stephen. The same artist frescoed the lunette above the side door.
On the right at the top of the wide staircase up to the very-frescoed crossing is a 14th century polychromed statue of Saint Peter Enthroned brought here by the Austrians from the nearby demolished church of San Pietro in Castello. It is attributed to Rigino di Enrico.
The apse has an unusual raised vaulted ambulatory possibly dating from the 10th century and a bishop's throne which may be from the 8th.
The frescoes generally get later as they get higher. To the left of the altar is a fine Coronation of the Virgin above an Annunciation, both by Martino da Verona from the late 14th century, amongst other earlier bits from the 13th. The illusionistic and somewhat strange frescoes in the dome and lateral spaces, with saints' attributes emerging from clouds, angel musicians and fighting archangels, (see below) are by Domenico Brusasorci (c.1553). In the dome he frescoed Christ Triumphant with the Four Evangelists.

In the right transept is a panel depicting the Virgin and Child with Saints Peter and Andrew by Giovan Francesco Caroto (1543). In the left is Christ Carrying the Cross, with Saints by Domenico Brusasorci (1547).

The crypt
Bright-painted vaulting, with fragments of 12th and 13th century frescos and elements of the original church are to found in the 10th century crypt. If it's open. Many bishops of Verona are buried here, along with the forty martyrs put to death during the reign of Diocletian. Also the tomb of Galla Placidia, the daughter of the Emperor Valentinian III, the granddaughter of her more famous namesake and probably the last Western Roman Empress known by name.

Lost art
An early mosaic floor taken from this church is now in the Archaeological Museum up the hill, but I couldn't find it.
A large panel depicting the Virgin and Child with Saints John the Baptist, Jerome, Francis Placidia, Maurus and Simplicio by Nicola Giolfino is now in the Castelvecchio.

Bibliography
Santo Stefano in Verona by Leonardo Venturini Scripta 2013
In Italian. Available in the church.

Opening times
Daily 9.00 - 12.00 & 4.00 - 5.30

A group called Verona Minor Hierusalem staffs touristic visit times for this church, and four more nearby. The times they publicise are
Thursday, Friday, Saturday 10.00 - 5.30 & Sunday 12.30 - 5.30
But there was no such representation on a Thursday morning in April 2023.

The chiesa plebana looking east.

The procession of the Duca de la Pignata
during the carnevale of 1884

Lost

San Bartolomeo della Levata
Lost art
V and C with Saints Nicola and Andrea and a Worshipper by Giovanni Badile, in Castelvecchio.

San Clemente
Lost art
Saints Francis and Bernardino half panels and Saints Bartolomew and Rocco full panels from an altarpiece here by Domenico Morone is now in Castelvecchio, since 1812. Also there are Saint Francis Recieving the Stigmata and half lengths of Saints Francis and Bartholomew by Francesco Morone. 14.7.2015

San Daniele
Nuns from here moved to Santi Nazaro e Celso in late 18th century.
Lost art
Sebastiano Ricci David Declines Saul's Weapons in Castelvecchio.

San Francesco di Paolo
Father Giovanni da Paternò of the Order of Friars Minim of San Francesco di Paolo came to Verona in 1593 with the aim of bringing his order to the city. With the financial backing Counts Massimo and Agostino Giusti and Giulio de 'Cagalli he built a church in 1596 in Campo Marzo dedicated to San Francesco di Paolo along with a monastery, restored and expanded to the mid-18th century. In July 1806 the monastery, which then had only six monks and two lay brothers, was suppressed. The church is now the library of Frinzi University.
Lost art
Nicola Giolfino Virgin and Child called The Madonna of the Jasmines, from a side altar here, in the Castelvecchio since 1812.
Statues of Saints by Orazio Marinali, a follower of Bernini, from this church were taken to Santa Maria del Paradiso.

San Giacomo alla Pigna
Lost art
A triptych of the Virgin and Child with Saints Blaise and Sebastian by Antonio Badile II has been in the Castelvecchio since 1812, as has another depicting the Virgin and Child with Saints Peter and James by his studio.
Had the Virgin and Child with Saints Rocco and Sebastian (The Maffei Madonna) by Girolamo dai Libri, which was in the Maffai chapel here, but since 1812 is in the Castelevecchio. The same family had commissioned his famous Nativity with the rabbits for their chapel in Santa Maria in Organo, now also in the Castelvecchio.
Francesco Morone's Virgin and Child Enthroned with St Zeno and St Nicholas, which was on a side altar here dedicated to San Zeno, is now in the Brera.

San Gregorio
oratory
Suppressed and demolished in 1806
Lost art
Francesco Morone's Saint Catherine with a Donor panel, from the sacristy here, now in the Castelvecchio

St. Nicholas of Tolentino al Paladon
Lost art
Dom Morone two fresco panels depicting four saints, in Castelvecchio

San Sebastiano
Originally an oratory/parish church probably Romanesque in design, dedicated to Saint Sebastian, with a hospital, built in 932 Originally. It passed to the Jesuits 8th February 1578. On April 24, 1591, the Jesuits asked the Venetian Senate of the city to enlarge the church, which was still unfinished. They agreed, but with the interdict of Pope Paul V against the Venetian Republic of 1606, the work was suspended, never to resume.

Following the abolition of the Jesuit order in 1773, the city of Verona purchased the complex from the Venetian Senate for 30,000 ducats in September 1774.

Closed by Napoleon, the convent was used as a library and gymnasium. During the Austrian occupation the church was reconsecrated. The Jesuits returned in 1842, to run the church the gymnasium. They remained openly until 1848 and clandestinely until 1866, with the retaking of Verona by Italian troops the church was again deconsecrated.

The church building was almost completely destroyed by allied bombing on 4th January 1945. What was left of its façade was put onto the church of San Niccolo.

Where the church stood is now the unlovable late-1970s city library by Pier Luigi Nervi.

Lost art
Giambattista Tiepolo Episode from the Story of the Maccabees an early work, and part of a high freeze, now in Castelvecchio.

The church of San Sebastiano in 1946 before its façade was removed
and attached to San Nicolò.

Sant'Andrea
Lost art
Had the Virgin and Child with Saints Peter and Andrew, (also known as The Madonna of the Oak Tree) a late work by Girolamo dai Libri in the Castelvecchio since 1812.

Sant'Egidio
12th c within roman walls on right side of Adige suppressed by Napoleon 1806

Santa Croce
Convent of the Capuchins.
Lost art
A pair of panels of The Annunciation, maybe organ doors, by Claudio Ridolfi in Castelvecchio. Also St Anthony Reading by Marcantonio Bassetti and The Herald Angel by Claudio Ridolfi.

Santa Felicita
Lost art
19 14th c fresco fragments by the Second San Zeno Master in Castelvecchio.

Santa Lucia
Built in 1194 in Borgo Ognissanti can still can be seen today amongst Military buildings, it was rebuilt by Benedictine nuns in 1743. Church and convent suppressed in 1806 and used as barracks.
Lost art
A Flagellation of Christ an early work by Alessandro Turchi in Castelvecchio.

Santa Maria degli Angeli
Lost art
Very damaged large fresco fragment of Saint James Major between Saints Jerome and ?Lawrence attributed to Domenico Morone, in the early part of his career, now in the Castelvecchio. and a fragment of a Saint Sebastian from the second half of the 15th century.

Santa Maria della Fratta
Lost art
Had a Baptism of Christ (also known as the Baptism of the Ibis) over a side altar, painted by Girolamo dai Libri, which has been in the Castelvecchio since the church was suppressed and demolished in 1812.

Santa Maria della Ghiara (or Ghiaia)
dating from 1173 Frati Umiliati The monastery was suppressed in 1570 and entrusted in 1591 to the Teatini who remained until the abolition by the Venetians in 1769, when they transferred to San Nicolò, also then a Theatine convent.

Lost art
Had the huge Adoration of the Shepherds by Moretto da Brescia, commissioned by Mario Averoldi, a relative of Bartolomeo Averoldi, Abbot of the Umiliati friars, now in the Gemäldegalerie in Berlin, which also had a companion panel of The Virgin and Child with Saints Elizabeth and the Infant Baptist, and two Carmelite Saints, destroyed/missing since 1945. The latter featured the odd inscription 'To be breathed upon by your star is to come back to life'. Odd because it's a quote not from the Bible, but from Erasmus.

Santa Maria della Vittoria
(The chapel to the right of the high altar in San Tomaso Cantuariense contains a painted wooden crucifix by an unknown artist of the 14th century brought here from the suppressed church of Santa Maria della Disciplina
(now the Vittoria cinema))??

Santa Maria della Vittoria Nuova
Fed up with paying rent to the monastery of Santa Maria in Organo the order of Gerolomini (Hieronymites) needed to build a church of their own. Construction began in 1487 and was completed in 1512 with the church dedicated to Santa Maria delle Grazie, which became known as della Vittoria Nuova. Today nothing remains except a small cloister and a well-head in a building that currently houses the University of Verona's Faculty of Economics.

Lost art
Saint Jerome between Saints Paul and Francis of Assisi, from the chapel of Saint Jerome here, by Liberale da Verona, is now in the Castelvecchio.
Francesco Morone's Trinity Altarpiece also in the Castelvecchio, since 1812, was from the Fumanelli Chapel here.
Had the late and verdant Madonna and Child with Saint Joseph, the Archangel Raphael and Tobias (The Madonna of the Parasol) (1530) (see right) by Girolamo dai Libri over the high altar. It's been in Castelvecchio since 1812. A predella panel of The Visitation is in Grenoble.
Also a Lamentation, a very early work by Paolo Veronese which was in the sacristy here, now in Castelvecchio. (They call it a Deposition.) Removed from the church to Paris in 1797 and returned to Verona in 1816.

Rumours to be followed up

San Francesco al Corso
in the fresco museum

Santa Elisabetta
Lost art
Pasquale Ottino Assumption of the Virgin in Castelvecchio.

Santi Cosma e Damiano
A hospital church
Lost art
Fresco fragment of Virgin and Child with a worshipper in Castelvecchio by Stefano da Verona.
14/07/2015. Four panels by Giovan Francesco Caroto from c.1502, now in the Uffizi. They depict The Circumcision, Saint Joseph with Two Shepherds and the Magi, The Rest on the Flight into Egypt, and an unusual indoor Massacre of the Innocents.

Santo Spirito
Lost art
Antonio Badile's Madonna di Piazza dei Signori now in Castelvecchio.