Santa Maria Antica is a

Roman Catholic Roman or Romans most often refers to: * Rome, the capital city of Italy *Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD * Roman people, the people of ancient Rome *'' Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a let ...

church in

Verona Verona ( , ; vec, Verona or ) is a city on the Adige River in Veneto, Italy, with 258,031 inhabitants. It is one of the seven provincial capitals of the region. It is the largest city municipality in the region and the second largest in nor ...

, Italy. The current church is Romanesque in style and dates to 1185, rebuilt after the earthquake of 1117 destroyed the original building that dated back to the end of the period of Lombard domination in the 7th century. The only surviving remains of the 7th-century building is a fragment of black and white mosaic floor. The current building was dedicated by the patriarch of Aquileia and acted as the private chapel of Verona's ruling Scaligeri family, located beside their family cemetery (the site of the 13th-century Scaliger Tombs). The church has a small

tuff Tuff is a type of rock made of volcanic ash ejected from a vent during a volcanic eruption. Following ejection and deposition, the ash is lithified into a solid rock. Rock that contains greater than 75% ash is considered tuff, while rock ...

bell tower (with three baroque bells) in a purely Romanesque style, with

mullion A mullion is a vertical element that forms a division between units of a window or screen, or is used decoratively. It is also often used as a division between double doors. When dividing adjacent window units its primary purpose is a rigid sup ...

ed windows and a brick-covered spire. Around 1630 the three-nave interior was altered to the

Baroque The Baroque (, ; ) is a style of architecture, music, dance, painting, sculpture, poetry, and other arts that flourished in Europe from the early 17th century until the 1750s. In the territories of the Spanish and Portuguese empires including ...

style, though a restoration at the end of the 19th century restored the original Romanesque interior, divided by columns with "sesto rialzato" arches, and with an "incavallature" roof supported by transverse arches, as at the basilica of San Zeno. There are two lateral apses in tuff and cotto, and a central apse with two early 14th-century frescoes. The exterior has alternate bands of

and cotto, with small windows. The side-door is dominated by the arch of Cangrande I della Scala, the soberest but most monumental of the family arches. Excavations have found a cemetery near the church, containing fifty 11th-century burials, some aligned north-south, some east-west. The belltower contains two bells cast during the 17th century and rung in the Veronese syle.

Burials

* Alberto I della Scala * Cangrande I della Scala * Mastino II della Scala *

Cansignorio della Scala Cansignorio della Scala (5 March 1340 – 19 October 1375) was Lord of Verona from 1359 until 1375, initially together with his brother Paolo Alboino. Biography He inherited the lordship of Verona at the death of his father Mastino, together wit ...

Alberto II della Scala Alberto II della Scala (1306 – 13 September 1352) was lord of Verona from 1329 until his death. He was a member of the famous Scaliger family of northern Italy. He was the son of Alboino I della Scala and Beatrice da Correggio. He co-ruled ...

Gallery

Arche scaligere (Verona) L'arca di Cangrande.jpg, Tomb of Cangrande above the entrance porch. Santa Maria Antica - Verona.jpg, View of the Interior Santa Maria Antica - Altar.jpg, The high altar {{DEFAULTSORT:Maria Antica Verona 12th-century Roman Catholic church buildings in Italy Maria Antica Romanesque architecture in Verona Churches completed in 1185 Burial sites of the Scaliger family