Verona: origin of the name

 

The origin of the name is uncertain: there are various theories and legends about it. The most accepted theory is the one attributable to the German glottologist Wilhelm Schulze, described in his work 'Zur Geschichte Lateinischer Eigennamen'. 

The name 'Verona' is supposedly derived from the union of three ancient words:

 

- 'Ve', an Etruscan word used to refer to the Venetian populations;

- 'Ro' from the Greek 'reo', meaning 'I flow', to indicate the Adige River;

- 'Na', an Etruscan syllabic root meaning 'a settlement'.

 

Hence, Ve-ro-na, or 'The Venetian city on the river'. According to the legend recounted by Galvanus Fiamma, the Gallic chieftain Brennus - the mythical founder of the city - named the new town 'Vae Roma', or 'Woe to you Rome', after the war campaign against the Roman state.

 

Foundation

 

The area in which Verona stands has been inhabited since Neolithic times: it was a strategic area and represented the mandatory passage for communications from the eastern to the western part of the Po Valley, north of the Po River. Probably, the first nucleus from which the city developed consisted of a village that stood in the southern area of Colle San Pietro, where the Adige River was fordable. 

During prehistoric times, this point must have coincided with the place where Ponte Pietra was built in Roman times. In Protohistoric times, the Cenomanian Gauls, the Veneti, and the Raeti gravitated in this area. Historians have been unable to establish a certain origin of the pre-Roman village and have always attributed it to the Veneti or their predecessors: the Euganeans, the Cenoman Gauls, the Rhaetians, and the Etruscans.

Roman Verona

 

The development of Verona as an urban reality began immediately after 49 B.C. when, under Julius Caesar, it obtained the Roman citizenship and through the Lex Roscia was given the rank of municipium. 

The municipality could therefore boast the name Res Publica Veronensium. Verona was founded on the right bank of the Adige River following the urban planning criteria usual for Roman cities of colonial origin: it was a chessboard of cardi and decumani. 

The Forum stood at the intersection of the two main road axes. In the area of the Roman Forum, which corresponds to today's Piazza delle Erbe, the public buildings that made each municipality of the state a small Rome were built over two centuries: the Capitol, the Basilica, and the Curia. Ponte della Pietra is the oldest Roman monument in the city. 

The two gates, that of the Lions and that of the Borsari, were also part of the republican walls erected during the second half of the 1st century B.C..

 

The Middle Ages

 

The Western Roman Empire fell in 476 A.D. and Verona subsequently became the capital of the barbarians. Even under Odoacer, Verona was a city of high military importance. The Eastern Emperor and the Church, however, favoured the invasion of the Ostrogoths led by Theodoric. The expedition to free Italy from Odoacer was decided in 488 by the assembly of the Goths. 

There was a furious battle between the Goths led by Theodoric, and the barbarians led by Odoacer: Theodoric won. During the Carolingian domination, Verona was also the subject of the 'Carolingian Revival'. From 1200 to 1260 Verona was subject to the power of the Ezzelini family: the escalation of the conflict between Guelphs and Ghibellines dates back to this period. 

In 1259 Ezzelino III was captured and died shortly afterwards. At his death, Verona was the only city under his rule that did not fall into the hands of the Guelphs: from 1260 Mastino I della Scala became Podestà of the city.

 

La Scala Family

 

With the Scala dynasty, a period of great political, economic, cultural, and architectural ferment began for Verona. The Scala family, probably of Nordic origin, had been in Verona since the year 1000: the first dwelling of this prestigious family was in Piazza delle Erbe, later called Casa dei Mazzanti. 

The progenitor was Giacomo della Scala, the father of Mastino and Alberto. In 1262 Mastino I della Scala was appointed 'Capitano Generale e Perpetuo del Popolo' (General and Perpetual Captain of the People); from that moment onwards began the transition process that transformed Verona from a Municipality into a Seignory. Alberto della Scala took power after the death of his brother Mastino: to him goes the honour of having made the transformation of the Municipality into a Seignory legal. 

Piazza dei Signori became the salon of Verona, and it was here that under the Scala family some of the most important palaces in the city were built.

 

La Serenissima

 

On 24 June 1405 there was the dedication of Verona to the Serenissima: under its rule, the city enjoyed a long period of peace that lasted until 1509, when it was attacked by the powers of the League of Cambrai. Once the war of the League of Cambrai was over, Verona returned to the Serenissima rule in 1517. 

From the 16th century, the economy reflourished thanks to the construction of churches and palaces in the Renaissance style, one of the most important architects of which was Michele Sanmicheli. The desire to redevelop Piazza delle Erbe, the centre of the city's commercial activity, dates back to the 16th century. 

In this square, the column with the Marcian Lion, symbol of the Dominant, was erected between 1523 and 1524. This period of peace did not end because of a war, but because of a devastating disease: the plague of 1630 brought to Italy by German soldiers. Two thirds of the population died. The ensuing economic crisis brought the urban development of Verona to a standstill.

 

Napoleon

 

In 1796 Napoleon raided Italy; in 1797 he returned. On the second day of Easter 1797, popular uprisings against the French troops began: these uprisings took the name of Pasque Veronesi. The spark was ignited between a French and a Venetian soldier at Pozzo dei Mazzanti. 

Peace negotiations continued until the 27th and ended with a substantial, unconditional surrender of the city. Shortly afterwards, the end of the Serenissima Republic was decreed with an act of the Great Council that on 12 May 1797 sanctioned the capitulation to the French. 

On 9 July 1797 the Cisalpine Republic was proclaimed and on 17 October the Treaty of Campoformio was signed: the treaty sanctioned the division of the states of the Venetian Republic between Austria and France. Verona was given to Austria, but after some subsequent clashes the Treaty of Lunéville was reached: the Adige River became the border between the French and the Austrian Verona.

The Austrian domination

 

The Austrian rule began on 14 October 1814. With the birth of the Lombardy-Veneto Kingdom, Verona became the seat of the General Headquarters of the Austrian armed forces in Italy. The influence of the Austrian power characterised the city mainly in two areas:

• the military one: Verona was the pivot of the Quadrilateral, a defence system based on four cities, Verona, Legnago, Mantua, and Peschiera (Verona was the central pivot);
• the logistic one: Verona became the centre of both road and rail communication systems.

Austrian military engineers began to build a defensive system consisting of walls, forts, castles, barracks, and various buildings, making Verona a fortress-city. Neoclassical influence in architecture dates back to the 19th century: the greatest interpreter of this current in Verona was Giuseppe Barbieri. His are the designs for the Town Hall, the Monumental Cemetery, and the Loggia Arvedi in Via Mazzini.

Italian Verona

 

The history of Italian Verona began on 16 October 1866 with the conquest of Veneto by the Savoys after the Third War of Independence. The wall plaque on the façade of Fraccaroli Palace is dated 8 March 1867. It recalls that from the balcony of the palace Giuseppe Garibaldi greeted the people of Verona by pronouncing the phrase 'O Roma, o la morte' (Rome or death).