The Basilica of San Zeno (also known as San Zeno Maggiore or San Zenone) is an important place of worship of the Catholic Church located in the heart of the San Zeno district of Verona. It is considered one of the masterpieces of medieval architecture.
The present church was built on the site where at least five other religious buildings had previously stood. Its origin seems to go back to a church erected over the tomb of Saint Zeno of Verona, who died between 372 and 380. The building was rebuilt at the beginning of the 9th century at the behest of Bishop Ratold and King of Italy Pepin, who deemed it inappropriate for the body of the patron saint to rest in a poor church. Tradition holds that the archdeacon Pacificus contributed to the construction; the consecration took place on 8 December 806, while on 21 May of the following year the body of Saint Zeno was translated into the crypt. During the invasions of the Magyars, who ravaged northern Italy between 899 and 933, the church suffered significant damage, so much so that in 967 Bishop Ratherius had to promote a new reconstruction. Around the end of the 11th century and the beginning of the 12th, a major project was undertaken to renew the church in Romanesque style. Work was interrupted by the devastating 1117 Verona earthquake, but by about 1138 much of the present church had been completed. In the following centuries, the building underwent further modifications and transformations, but these did not alter its layout, which has substantially preserved its medieval character.
Among the numerous works of art, it houses a masterpiece by Andrea Mantegna, the San Zeno Altarpiece. Also famous are the bronze panels of the portal and the large rose window on the façade, called the "Wheel of Fortune", the work of the stonecutter Brioloto de Balneo. Throughout its history, the basilica inspired numerous poets, including Dante Alighieri, Giosuè Carducci, Heinrich Heine, Gabriele D'Annunzio, and Berto Barbarani.
The church, which in 1973 was elevated to the rank of minor basilica, serves as the seat of a parish that belongs to the Vicariate of Central Verona. According to tradition, its crypt was the place of the marriage of Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet.
History
Early Christian origins
Christian doctrine must have reached Verona very early, given the importance of the city as a road junction, through which soldiers coming from Rome or Palestine certainly passed. If the first bishop of the Diocese of Verona, Euprepius, was appointed around the first half of the 3rd century, the eighth, Zeno of Verona, is believed to have died between 372 and 380, and tradition holds that he was buried not far from the place where the basilica now stands. The Veronese notary Coronato, who lived towards the end of the 7th century, informs us in his Chronicle that a church was built above the bishop's tomb in his honor. It also seems that this first Christian building was restored and enlarged in 589, after the miracle recounted by Saint Gregory the Great and also reported by Paul the Deacon in the Historia Langobardorum. On that occasion, the church is said to have provided protection during a terrible flood: it is told that the waters of the Adige broke down the city walls and reached the building, where many Veronese had taken refuge, submerging it but failing to enter either through the windows or the doors.
It is likely that a reconstruction of the building took place during the age of the Goths, as confirmed by some fragments of carved stone in Byzantine style, datable to the 5th–6th century, reused in the oratory of Saint Benedict (accessible from the cloister) and in the bell tower. The historian Luigi Simeoni confirms that this structure may date back to the 6th century, recognizing similarities between the impost blocks of the cloister and the oratory and those of the Basilica of Sant'Apollinare Nuovo in Ravenna. Moreover, it is not unlikely that Theodoric the Great himself, who devoted much attention to the urban renewal of Verona, contributed to this structure, as indeed is mentioned in the Annales Valesiani. It can therefore be inferred that this ancient building was rich in columns, pillars, capitals, and impost blocks, all made of marble, as was the floor.
After the fall of the Gothic kingdom in 553 following the Gothic War, and a brief period under the Byzantine Empire, Verona passed into the hands of the Lombards, and King Alboin made it one of his favorite residences. We know very little about the church during this period, but again thanks to Coronato, we learn that it still preserved the saint's remains and that the Lombards, being Arians, allowed a Catholic bishop to remain in Verona, and that King Desiderius granted certain donations that went to form the Domus Sancti Zenonis.
It seems that around 804 the church had been severely damaged «ut ad nihilum esset redacta» and the monastery set on fire «ab infidelibus hominibus», perhaps by insubordinate Franks or surviving Arians. In the early 9th century, King Pepin was in Verona, and together with Bishop Ratold he judged it unseemly that the body of the patron saint should rest in a "poor" building. They therefore decided, «propter divinum amorem et reventiam», that a larger and more beautiful church should be built, and that the body should then be translated into a crypt: «a dark underground church upon columns, with the floor of living stone, and they also had a polished marble tomb made which they destined for the body of Saint Zeno for his burial». According to tradition, the works were supervised by the archdeacon Pacificus. The Annales Zenoniani recount that a new church was built, and that the existing one was therefore not enlarged but remained intact for a long time. In the new building, a "dark cavern" was created, that is, a room without light, at least partially excavated underground and intended to house the relics of Saint Zeno. In any case, very little is known about this construction, as very little has survived to the present day. King Pepin also donated to the basilica golden and silver vessels and Gospels adorned with precious gems.
The consecration of the new building took place on December 8, 806, while on May 21 of the following year the body of Saint Zeno was translated into the crypt which today forms the lowest level of the basilica. The ceremony was very solemn: it was decided that the transport of the relics should be entrusted to the hermit saints of Malcesine, Benignus and Carus, considered at that time the only ones worthy of touching the saint's body. The ceremony was attended by the king, the local bishop Notker, and the bishops of Cremona and Salzburg.
It is believed that the cavern and the chancel above included an apse oriented south–north, like the nearby church of San Procolo, also attributed to Pacificus, as is the present one, and that the apse was covered only by a simple wooden roof structure. The translation of the saint's relics took place with great solemnity, representing an exceptional event for the time, which rekindled among the Veronese the cult of their patron. Pepin's donation, together with those of the bishops and the population, allowed this church to be «not only beautiful, but for those times sublime». Of this building, almost nothing remains today, perhaps only the ancient brick masonry at the back of the building, beyond the last pilaster strip. It was annexed to a Benedictine abbey and, in all likelihood, to a cloister along the eastern side. The first abbot mentioned in the sources is a certain Leo, who held office in 833.
From the beginning of the 10th century to about the mid-11th
According to the historian Onofrio Panvinio, the invasions of the Hungarians that raged between 899 and 933 ruined the churches in the suburbs of Verona, located outside the city walls. Thus, the church of San Zeno, which was still the one built in the time of Pepin, was severely damaged along with the monastery, since at that time it was still outside the defensive perimeter (it would only be included with the Scaliger walls of Verona). The same writer states that, foreseeing the danger, the body of the saint was transferred for safety to the cathedral, which was probably then the church of Santa Maria Matricolare; a story not supported by sources but nevertheless considered plausible.
With the end of the Hungarian raids, efforts were made to repair the many damages through the restoration of the monastery and the rebuilding of the church. The reconstruction was commissioned by Bishop Ratherius, who obtained funds for the construction from the German emperor Otto I in exchange for the hospitality he received in Verona in 967. However, Ratherius was soon accused of having used these funds for his own interests, so much so that he had to justify himself in the Apologeticus, explaining that he had instead used them to reform the lower clergy, eliminating concubinage among priests. Therefore, the works must have begun somewhat late, following the canons of the Veronese Romanesque style that was beginning to emerge. A three-aisled building was thus erected, with the central nave raised above the others, divided by arches supported by alternating pillars and columns, with a crypt and a raised floor above it. Its width corresponded to that of the present basilica, its length to about three quarters of it, while its height must have been about half. The naves ended in three apses, a larger central one and two smaller lateral ones.
Some elements of this building still survive today, such as the crypt, which is attributed to the 10th century. On the exterior, its walls are still visible on the eastern side, near the bell tower, where the material used is brickwork up to a height of 7.60 meters, above which runs a saw-tooth band indicating the beginning of what was once the eaves cornice. Another wall probably datable to the same period is the one along the side of the left nave, serving as the back wall of the cloister, where the tuff structure with irregular blocks arranged in layers mixed with some brick fragments is clearly visible. A diploma of Emperor Henry II informs us that in 1014 the relics of Saint Zeno had already been transferred back to the basilica (in villula Sancti Zenonis).
In the first decades of the 11th century, the first Romanesque church was thus completed, and it was decided to improve it by raising it. Almost nothing remains today of this intervention, since later works largely renewed, and partly concealed, what might have survived. According to the architect and superintendent Alessandro Da Lisca, in these years the building was reinforced in its walls and raised to reach the height of the present roofs.
In 1045, Abbot Alberic (1045–1067) began the construction of the bell tower, as recalled by an inscription placed at its base on the western outer side. At the abbot's death in 1067, the tower must have reached a height roughly over half of the current one, and perhaps a belfry with mullioned windows had already been completed. Alberic also had the monks' sepulcher built; it is located in the cloister on the side facing the church. It consists of a red marble tomb, covered by a thick slab adorned with a large cross in relief. It is not certain that this is the original from the 11th century, but it is very likely, considering that the cloister already existed. Above the tomb there is an inscription commemorating it.
The renovation at the beginning of the 12th century and the earthquake of 1117
Towards the end of the 11th century and the beginning of the 12th, a major renovation project of San Zeno's church was undertaken. The intention was to enlarge it with the addition of a new structure in front of the old façade, corresponding today to the first bay of the building; in addition to this extension, it was planned to renew the old longitudinal walls, both of the side aisles and of the main nave. The new building, as can still be seen today, was to feature walls made of well-squared tuff, projecting pilaster strips, a marble gallery consisting of small arches decorated with twin columns, and at the top a cornice of arches with a double ring and corbels in double projection, enriched with fine carvings and a frieze finely sculpted in white marble. When the devastating 1117 Verona earthquake struck, this reconstruction must have already been well advanced, since the extension was almost completed and the renovation of the right aisle had already begun.
Despite the damage caused by the earthquake, which destroyed countless other buildings in the city, the work already begun was not abandoned, and it was decided to complete it, albeit in a more modest way, reusing, as far as possible, the material that had collapsed for the new walls. Thus, from 1117 to 1138, the ancient longitudinal walls, which had largely fallen or become unsafe, were rebuilt, with the main nave being reinforced with new clustered pillars. By 1138 all this work must have been finished, and the prothyrum added to the new façade was also in place, as confirmed by the epigraph located on the southern exterior side of the aisle, near the façade. This epigraph states that the restoration of the bell tower and the construction of the first belfry was completed in 1120, while the reconstruction and extension of the church, with the addition of at least one bay to the west, was completed in 1138 («A RESTAURATIONE VERO IPSIUS CAMPANILIS CONFLUXERANT ANNI LVIII»).