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The church of San Pietro da Verona in Santa Anastasia, better known as the basilica of Santa Anastasia, is an important Catholic place of worship that stands in the heart of the historic center of Verona; it is located at the end of the decumanus maximus of the city in Roman times, near the point where the wide meander of the Adige river is crossed by the Ponte Pietra, where the two main traffic routes of the city, road and river, gravitate. It is the largest, most solemn and representative church in Verona, a reflection of a lively moment in the city's life, when the expansion and consolidation of political and economic institutions allowed the community, in synergy with the Scaliger rule, the Dominican clergy and the Castelbarco family, to make a considerable financial effort to build this important temple, a symbol of their power.
The church represented the most important Gothic period for Verona. In the years immediately following its construction, it became a point of reference on which the designs of several other religious buildings were based, especially thanks to some innovations that St. Anastasia introduced into the plan, with the development of a wide transept and the articulation of the apsidal area into four chapels on either side of the presbytery, where the high altar is located, to the wall structure entirely in brick and to the new type of bell tower. The façade is unfinished, except for a majestic Gothic mullioned doorway that leads to a large interior divided into three naves by monumental cylindrical columns. On either side of the two naves are a series of chapels and numerous altars, the most famous of which is the Fregoso altar by Danese Cattaneo, praised by Giorgio Vasari. In addition, it is possible to admire paintings and frescoes by famous masters of Veronese painting and beyond, such as Pisanello, Altichiero, Liberale da Verona, Stefano da Zevio, Nicolò Giolfino, Giovan Francesco Caroto, Felice Brusasorzi, Francesco Morone, Michele da Verona and Lorenzo Veneziano.
The beginning of its construction dates back to 1260, when the Dominican friars, who lived outside the walls of the city, received from the Bishop of Verona, Manfredo Roberti, the land on which to build the new church and convent. The construction of the great building began in 1290 and it took a very long time: it can be said that it was finished only in the 1440s, although the basic structures were already finished in the third decade of the previous century. The basilica was consecrated on October 22, 1471 by Cardinal and Bishop of Verona Giovanni Michiel, but minor works continued for more than two centuries, never reaching the completion of the main elevation. When the Dominican Order was suppressed in 1807, the temple was entrusted to the secular clergy, while the adjacent convent, now abandoned, later became the site of the Istituto Maffei.
The basilica is the seat of a parish included in the vicariate of the center of Verona.
The Basilica of St. Anastasia takes its name from a pre-existing Arian church from the Gothic period, dedicated by Theodoric to Anastasia of Sirmium. The church was later incorporated into another church building, dedicated to St. Remigius, from the Frankish period.
The present basilica is named after the co-patron saint of Verona, St. Peter, a Dominican martyr who was killed on April 4, 1252, not far from Monza. The people of Verona have always called it by its former name, and so it is unanimously known even outside the city limits, because of the pre-existing church.
It is believed that on the site of the present religious building there were already two Christian churches in Lombard times, built, according to tradition, at the behest of the Ostrogothic king Theodoric: one dedicated to St. Remigius and the other to St. Anastasia, a martyr of the persecution of the Christians under Diocletian, whose cult had spread from Constantinople to Verona around the 8th century. The site chosen overlooked the ancient decumanus maximus of Roman Verona, the urban extension of the Via Postumia. The earliest news of this first construction is contained in a diploma dated October 2, 890, issued by the King of Italy Berengar I, in which reference is made "ad ecclesiam Sanctae Anastasiae" about the city of Verona. After this testimony, there is no further documentation for a long period of time, and a second mention is found only in a deed dated May 12, 1082, concerning a donation in favor of Anastasius, "archipresbyter, custos et rector" of the church of Santa Anastasia, of a courtyard, a wine press and vineyards in Illasi, near the church of Santa Giustina. A subsequent decree of 1087 lists the many possessions the church had in the Verona area.
Sources show that the collegiate of religious who worked in the church in the 12th century was very numerous and important, so much so that there are several documents that mention the priests at their head: for example, a contract informs that a certain Bonseniore held the office of archpriest in March 1114, while a few decades later Pope Alexander III issued a decretal to Theobald and the clerics of Santa Anastasia in Verona. A testament dated June 27, 1226, in which a certain Ricerio, a miller, bequeathed ten soldi for works "ad porticalia Sancte Anastasie", suggests that the building was renovated at that time. These ancient sources do not reveal anything about the architecture of this early building, except that it had a choir, that there was a rectory on the outside, and that a portico had been built. Some historians believe that part of the wall of the Chapel of the Crucifix is a remnant of the ancient building, but this claim remains controversial.
The arrival of the Dominicans in Verona can be dated between 1220 and 1221, when they served in the church of Maria Mater Domini, a building demolished in 1517 that stood near the Rondella della Baccola, just outside Porta San Giorgio. The Veronese congregation, which enjoyed an excellent economic situation due to donations, had built a convent so large that in 1244 it hosted the General Chapter of the Order. Their importance was such that in 1260 the Bishop of Verona, Manfredo Roberti, decided that they should settle in the city to build their own convent and church, to be dedicated to their confrere Saint Peter of Verona, martyred in 1252 and canonized by Pope Innocent IV. For this purpose, one third of the one thousand five hundred Veronese lire obtained from the sale of Maria Mater Domini to the nuns of San Cassiano was used to buy the land around the ancient Santa Anastasia and to finance the first construction works.
Although a document dated March 20, 1280, which reads "in domo ecclesie sancte Anasasie" shows that the Dominicans were already involved in the new project, it took about thirty years after the abandonment of Maria Mater Domini before the actual construction began. It is probable, however, that even though the construction of the basilica had not yet begun, the construction of the monastery had begun in the meantime, and in the 80s it took on an essentially definitive character, modified only by some transformations that took place between the 14th century and the first half of the 15th century. The complex had four cloisters, the largest of which was called the "Cloister of the Dead" for its particular use, and several service rooms, including dormitories, the refectory, the studium with its library, and the main chapter.
Construction of the new and current basilica began in 1290, at a time when traditional Romanesque architecture was being abandoned in favor of Gothic, the style in which the building was designed, and the Dominicans received a land grant from Bishop Pietro I della Scala, dated April 2, 1292, to widen the entrance to the church and open up the view. In the first years, work on the building continued apace, supported by numerous donations and legacies, especially from members of the Della Scala family, such as Alberto I, who left a thousand Veronese lire, Cangrande II and Cansignorio. To commemorate these donations, the coat of arms of the Della Scala family was painted on both sides of the ogival triumphal arch that leads to the apse where the high altar is located.
Many consider Guglielmo da Castelbarco, a friend of Cangrande I, to have been an ardent supporter of the construction, so much so that in his will, dictated in Lizzana on August 13, 1319, he ordered that his remains be buried in the church and that a thousand Veronese lire be spent on its construction. To the left of the present church, above the portico that once led into the monastery, there is still his sarcophagus, probably the work of the stonecutter Rigino di Enrico. An analysis of the building's materials suggests that at the time of Castelbarco's death in 1320, the apses, the high altar, the transept, the perimeter walls at least to half their final height, and the lower part of the façade had been completed.
Nothing precise is known about the identity of the architect who designed the building. Some scholars have proposed Castelbarco himself as the one who conceived the building's structure, but more careful and comparative studies with other buildings have revealed parallels with the church of San Lorenzo in Vicenza and the church of San Nicolò in Treviso, which have suggested the same author. Leaving aside the one that identifies him precisely as Guglielmo da Castelbarco, there are several hypotheses about the name of the architect: the most accepted, also supported by Carlo Cipolla, is the one that attributes the project to two Dominican monks, friar Benvenuto da Bologna and friar Nicola da Imola, authors of other buildings that have many elements in common with the plan of Santa Anastasia, but no documents have been found on the subject.
In the second half of the fourteenth century, the decline of the Scaliger rule had a negative impact on the construction work, which slowed down considerably, although it was partially alleviated by the continuous donations from private individuals, which made it possible to complete the works by the end of the century. Once political peace returned to Verona thanks to the devotion to Venice, the work was able to proceed more quickly: the construction site benefited from a papal bull that granted indulgences to anyone who contributed to the maintenance of the building, and the Podestà and the Captain of the People obtained from the Venetian Senate a reduction in the taxes related to the construction. Documents show that in 1428 the work on the roof of the church was well underway, although it was still partially uncovered, and the construction of the façade, which was to be made of stone, was being considered. On August 12 of the following year, a new papal bull ordered that the congregation of Conventual Dominicans at Santa Anastasia be replaced by Reformed ones. In 1462, Pietro da Porlezza, cousin of the architect Michele Sanmicheli, began to oversee the paving of the floor.
The basilica was solemnly consecrated on October 22, 1471, by Cardinal and Bishop of Verona Giovanni Michiel, although the building site remained open for more than two centuries, during which time the side chapels were added, but the façade was never completed. Between 1491 and 1493, Master Lorenzo da Santa Cecilia made the chairs for the new choir; in 1498, the stained glass windows of the central rose window and the side windows of the façade were installed. Between 1509 and 1517, as a result of the upheavals following the War of the League of Cambrai, Verona came under the control of the Holy Roman Empire, and it was in Santa Anastasia that the ceremony of submission to Emperor Maximilian I was held. When the city returned to the rule of the Serenissima, in 1522 the frames of the panels decorating the pilasters of the main door were laid, in 1533 the square in front of it was paved, and at Easter 1591 a telamon by Paolo Orefice was placed to support the stoup.
A plaque in the adjacent convent commemorates the visit of Pope Pius VI, who, returning from Vienna where he had met Emperor Joseph II, stayed in Verona from the evening of May 11, 1782 until the morning of May 13. Since the Bishop of Verona, Giovanni Morosini, was absent that day, the Pope stayed in the Dominican convent and, before leaving for Rome, celebrated Mass in Santa Anastasia.
On March 19, 1807, at the behest of Napoleon, the Dominican Order was suppressed, thus ending its presence in St. Anastasia, where it had served for almost five centuries. It was then entrusted to the diocesan clergy and became a parish with the benefice of Santa Maria in Chiavica. A similar fate befell the adjacent convent, which, after its final closure, became the seat of the Istituto Maffei. Between 1878 and 1881, the building underwent an intensive restoration, during which the bell tower was consolidated, some of the marble of the main door was replaced and the altars of the chapels were repaired. Some of the paintings were also restored, although the results were not always satisfactory. In 1967 a new restoration intervention, which lasted throughout the 1970s, led to much more satisfactory results, while in 1981 the restoration concerned the frescoes of the Lavagnoli Chapel. In 2010 a new extensive restoration was completed, involving the entire basilica, and is considered one of the most important interventions ever carried out on a Veronese monument.
The exterior of the temple represents a fine example of Veronese Gothic architecture with Renaissance elements. The unfinished façade is characterized by various elements, among which a wide portal framed by a pointed marble arch, a central rose window and two biforas at the level of the aisles. On the extreme sides there are two buttresses that rise above the eaves line and are repeated on both sides up to the transept, where they are surmounted by hexagonal pinnacles whose function is to relieve the thrust of the vaults.
The lateral elevations are divided in height into two architectural registers, corresponding to the wall of the aisle (the lower register) and the protruding part of the nave (the upper register): the lower sector, in addition to the buttress with pinnacle just described, is characterized by the protruding volumes of the chapels and high mullioned windows, partly closed. The upper sector has a series of oculi that allow light to enter the nave. On the façade of the right transept, there is a high trifora and, higher up, a large polylobate Gothic rose window. In the apsidal structures, also characterized by imposing buttresses, there are ogival windows.
Text from the Wikipedia article “Sant'Anastasia, Verona”, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.