Verona
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FROM THE SKY...
You can see the Arena, Verona's Roman amphitheatre, built in the 1st century.
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THE HISTORY OF VERONA
Ever
since ancient times, the area occupied today by the city of Verona, thanks
to its strategic position in Northern Italy at the conjunction of the Adige
Valley and the Po Plain, has always been an extremely important trading centre.
Many peoples have lived here - Venetians, Euganeans, Rhaetians, Etruscans
- but it prospered most under the Roman Empire, as can be seen from the many
monuments we can still admire today (the Arena,
the Roman Theatre, and the Ponte Pietra).
In the early Middle Ages its wealth attracted a succession
of barbarian kings who ruled it for several centuries: Theodoric, king
of the Ostrogoths, was enthroned in 549 in Castel San Pietro; in 568 the Longobard
king Alboin captured the city, bringing to an end a brief period of
Byzantine rule. In 774 Verona was conquered by Charlemagne, and in
888 by Berengarius. There followed a period of Germanic Imperial domination
until in the 12th century the city became a free Comune,
or city-state. Subsequently, however, the bloody fighting between various
rival factions brought the tyrant Ezzelino da Romano to power in 1226.
At his death in 1259 he was followed by Mastino della Scala, founder
of the Scaliger dinasty,
which was to rule the city until 1387. This is the period that produced such
fine monuments as Castelvecchio, the
Scaliger Tombs, San
Fermo and Sant’Anastasia.
In 1405, after a brief period of rule by the Viscontis and the Carraresis, the
city surrendered to Venice, and it remained loyal to Venice until 1797, the
year of the Napoleonic conquest. In the early 19th century Verona
was ceded by Bonaparte to Austria, and it remained under Austrian rule until
it eventually became part of the Kingdom of Italy in 1866.
(Synthesis from Juliet cd-rom)
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