Erbe Square

Erbe Square is the oldest square in Verona, formerly the Roman Forum. Translated from Italian, the name of the square sounds like “area of herbs”, because it sold herbs and fruits.

Piazza delle Erbe is surrounded by the historic buildings of Verona. The background of the square is Maffei Palace. In the center is a column with the Lion of St. Mark, as well as the fountain of the Verona Madonna, a building of the Scaliger era, now one of the symbols of the city. Its creator is the Italian sculptor Bonino Campione.

On the square is an ancient Romanesque church of unusual round shape (Rotunda of St. Lorenzo). Near the church in the Renaissance, the House of Merchants was built - a fine example of the Venetian style.

On the sides of Erbe are houses and palaces of the Middle Ages and Renaissance. On some of them you can see a large number of frescoes, because once Verona was called “painted city”, although initially the paint was applied to the walls simply as a protection from bad weather and only then turned into a decorative element.