Statue of Girolamo Fracastoro

Girolamo Fracastoro, the subject of this statue, was born in Verona between 1476 and 1478 and died in Affi (VR) on 6th August 1553. He was a physician, a philosopher, an astronomer, a geographer, a theologist and an intellectual of the Italian Renaissance. He embodies the typical Renaissance man thanks to his high number of interests. He was a professor of logic at Padua University, and was Nicholas Copernicus’ colleague and friend. He is considered one of the founders of modern pathology. In astronomy he appears to have been the first to describe an optical instrument: the telescope.

The statue was executed in 1559 by Danese Cattaneo, a sculptor and a poet who was born in Carrara in 1512 and died in Padua in 1572. As he was a pupil and a collaborator of Jacopo Sansovino during his stay in Venice, he had the opportunity to become a good friend of Torquato Tasso’s, Giorgio Vasari’s and Pietro Aretino’s. The statue is in good condition and has good heritage promotions. A popular legend is also related to this statue: according to the legend, the globe held by Fracastoro would fall on the head of the first gentleman walking under the statue. The statue hasn’t got artificial lighting.

Source: guidebook "Le statue di Verona", project supervised by Luca Leone, published in August 2015 with the support of the town council of Verona.