Madonna Verona

The Madonna Verona Fountain is one of the most representative and beloved monuments in the city of Verona. It is a symbolic personification of the city of Verona itself, located in the center of Piazza Erbe.

It was built by Cansignorio, the last of the great lords of the Della Scala family, in 1368, using a large Roman thermal pool in red Verona marble and surmounting it with a statue whose body was also a Roman original, perhaps even one of the acroterial statues that decorated the Capitol in the forum. The head and the arms, missing, were added at the moment of the realization of the fountain. Verona was therefore depicted as a beautiful queen (mea domina in fact, contracted in madonna, the appellative with which noblewomen were called in the Middle Ages) whose body, like the origins of the city, is of Roman times while the head and arms date back to the next moment of maximum splendor of the city, the '300 with the Signoria Scaligera. The stem supporting the pedestal of the statue depicts the faces of the four rulers of the city: the mythical Vero, Alboino king of the Lombards, Berengario and again Verona regina.
The statue holds a copper scroll with the following inscription EST JUSTI LATRIX URBS HAEC ET LAUDIS AMATRIX. That is, "Verona is a city that provides justice and loves to be praised", the ancient motto of the city.

The fountain of Madonna Verona can be visited and is included in most guided tours of Verona. For more information and to book your Verona tour guide: