Scala Family Verona (the Signoria)

With the help of a tourist guide, students, in a didactic itinerary, can "live" an important period of Italian history: the struggles, the rise and the decline of feudal lords, the court life in a typical Italian medieval town. Here are some of the issues that can be discussed, with the help of monuments, palaces, city roads and museums, Castelvecchio in particular.
The constitution of free Commune, the struggle between families belonging to Guelph and Ghibelline factions (which are probably the scenario from which the legend of Romeo and Juliet developed) and the tyranny of the bloody Ezzelino da Romano before the rise of the Scala Family Seigniory with its sumptuous court and its dramatic decadence. In Verona, the Scaligeri's itinerary, allows to revive important phases of the history of Italy.

The first coat of arms of the Scala family. Still today it appears on the flags of the Verona Province, Verona football team and in logos and symbols of clubs, wine labels etc.

The Scala family's coat of arms, once obtained the imperial vicariate, was adorned with the eagle: "your first shelter, your first refuge, will be the courtesy of the Great Lombard who on the ladder has the sacred bird" will write Dante speaking about Cangrande, who first gave him hospitality in his exile from Florence.

The introduction and development of Gothic art in Italy. The architecture, with the magnificent Arche Scaligere, the mausoleums of most important members of of the Scala Family. The painting, with the so-called international gothic style, that thanks to the work of artists such as Altichiero, Stefano da Verona, and most of all Pisanello, will find in Verona one of its most important centers. Through the works of fourteenth century authors, many of which displayed in the Castelvecchio Museum, students can see the environment of a medieval court, the outfits, the hairstyles, the armors, all finely depicted in the paintings of the Veronese Masters. The expansion of Verona under the Lordship of Cangrande, his Imperial Vicarship, his patronage of fine arts, Dante in Verona (which can be analyzed with a specific itinerary), the control of the territory through the network of castles and a feudal network (that can be developed through a specific itinerary in the province of Verona with visits to the Western castles: Torri del Benaco, Lazise, Sirmione, Valeggio sul Mincio, Villafranca, or to Verona eastern border, first of all Soave, but also Montorio).

For any question or more specific information on guided tours and didactic itineraries in Verona, please write to:

info@veronissima.com