The Arco dei Gavi is an ancient structure in

Verona Verona ( , ; vec, Verona or ) is a city on the Adige River in Veneto, Northern Italy, Italy, with 258,031 inhabitants. It is one of the seven provincial capitals of the region. It is the largest city Comune, municipality in the region and the ...

, northern

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical re ...

. It was built by the

gens In ancient Rome, a gens ( or , ; plural: ''gentes'' ) was a family consisting of individuals who shared the same Roman naming conventions#Nomen, nomen and who claimed descent from a common ancestor. A branch of a gens was called a ''stirps'' (p ...

Gavia, a noble Roman family who had their hometown in Verona, at the beginning of the

Via Postumia The Via Postumia was an ancient Roman road of northern Italy constructed in 148 BC by the ''consul'' Spurius Postumius Albinus Magnus. It ran from the coast at Genua through the mountains to Dertona, Placentia (the termination of the Via Aemil ...

, the Roman road leading to the city. During the

Middle Ages In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the late 5th to the late 15th centuries, similar to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire a ...

it was used as a gate in the walls.

History

The arch was commissioned to architect L. Vitruvius Cerdo in the 1st century AD, likely during the reign of Tiberius. The arch was erected by a prominent local family, the Gavi. It putatively stood at the beginning of the Via Sacra or via Postumia of the

ancient Roman In modern historiography, ancient Rome refers to Roman civilisation from the founding of the city of Rome in the 8th century BC to the collapse of the Western Roman Empire in the 5th century AD. It encompasses the Roman Kingdom (753–509 BC ...

city of Verona. A stone contained an inscription stating: ''Lucius Vitruvius Libertus'' or ''Cerdon Lucius Vitruvius'' architect. Later scholars often mistook this for someone with an link to the famed architect

Vitruvius Vitruvius (; c. 80–70 BC – after c. 15 BC) was a Roman architect and engineer during the 1st century BC, known for his multi-volume work entitled ''De architectura''. He originated the idea that all buildings should have three attribute ...

. The flanking niches appear to have held statues of family members. In the

, during the

communal Communal may refer to: *A commune or also intentional community * Communalism (Bookchin) * Communalism (South Asia), the South Asian sectarian ideologies *Relating to an administrative division called comune * Sociality in animals *Community owne ...

age of Verona, the city's council used it as an entrance gate when it was decided to surround Verona with a line of walls. During the period of Napoleonic rule in Italy French engineers demolished it. Its ruins were moved to a square and then to the

Arena An arena is a large enclosed platform, often circular or oval-shaped, designed to showcase theatre, musical performances, or sporting events. It is composed of a large open space surrounded on most or all sides by tiered seating for spectators ...

. Using some of the original stones, a proposed reconstruction of the arch was completed in 1932.World History Encyclopedia entry
This reconstruction was based on a wooden model made prior to demolition, and proposed reconstructions drawn up as early as the 16th century by

Andrea Palladio Andrea Palladio ( ; ; 30 November 1508 – 19 August 1580) was an Italian Renaissance architect active in the Venetian Republic. Palladio, influenced by Roman and Greek architecture, primarily Vitruvius, is widely considered to be one of th ...

. These models underscore the reverence held for even trivial examples of monumental Roman architecture. The Arch was reconstructed under

Mussolini Benito Amilcare Andrea Mussolini (; 29 July 188328 April 1945) was an Italian politician and journalist who founded and led the National Fascist Party. He was Prime Minister of Italy from the March on Rome in 1922 until his deposition in 194 ...

, exhorting Italy to identify with its Roman past. The arch was rebuilt next to Castelvecchio, not far from its original location.

References

Sources

* {{Authority control

Gavi GAVI, officially Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance (previously the GAVI Alliance, and before that the Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunization) is a public–private global health partnership with the goal of increasing access to immunization ...

Roman sites of Veneto Buildings and structures completed in 1932 Tourist attractions in Verona

History

See also

References

Sources