Le fortificazioni veneziane

At the Pradaval Gardens, near Corso Porta Nuova, few steps away from piazza Bra where the people of Verona in 1874 raised a statue dedicated to him we meet our tour guide Michele Sanmicheli, architect of the Serenissima Republic of Venice. Our illustreous guide takes us now along the avenue which is what was left after the Viscount cittadella and from the landfill of the moat, reaching Porta Nuova (1532-1540), the first one of the three monumental gates built by the architect in Verona.

Near the bastion of Riformati which can be seen on the right hand side of Porta Nuova and built during the same years, Sanmicheli tells us about his bastions which were destroyed by the French mines during Napoleon’s troops marching into town.

Passed the breack-through of via Città di Nimes we can se one of Sanmicheli’s military works, less appreciated but historically important for the fortifications. It’s the knight of Saint Spirit which is saved and preserved, despite Napoleon’s destructions. Here we can go down and walk along the anti-mines tunnel, the contromina.

Passed the Rondella of Santo Spirito which was built prior to Sanmicheli’s works, destroyed by the French troops and replaced by the 1800’s bastion, we find the beautiful Porta Palio, perhaps his masterpiece, which can be visited from its underground to the roof. Inside are kept the the scale models of the walls of the bastions destroyed by the French army and by which we can understand the beauty and the military efficiency of his works.

Moving a little away from the fortified walls and from the subject of the fortifications, Sanmicheli takes us to the church of San Bernardino to admire a work of religeous architecture the chapel Pellegrini, this too is made from his project.

As we return to the walls, we walk along the terreplains-curtains and after San Bernardino’s bastion we encounter another knight, San Giuseppe’s raised on the curtains. Passed San Zeno’s bastion, also destroyed and then rebuilt in the 1800s, we meet another monumental gate designed by Sanmicheli, Porta San Zeno, built from his project but probaly without his presence.

Proceeding along the perimeter of the city walls we reach the bastion of Spagna, a wonderful war machine which is nowadays unaccessible: this the end of our visit.