Mazzanti Houses

Mazzanti Houses (Case Mazzanti) is a building in the central Piazza Erbe (Erbe square) in Verona. They are characterized by a facade entirely covered by an impressive and colorful fresco from '500.

Verona Urbs Picta

In sixteenth and seventeenth century Verona, the facades of the palaces of the city's most prominent families were often entirely decorated with frescoes. It was a way to contribute to the decorum of the city, to show off wealth and good taste and at the same time save money compared to friezes and decorations carved in stone. Many important Veronese artists of the time were hired for this type of work. Such was the quantity of frescoed palaces that Verona was nicknamed "urbs picta" or painted city.
Exposed for centuries to atmospheric agents and more recently to pollution, many of these works have not resisted, fading and crumbling irreparably. Others, having outlived the taste that had commissioned them, were hammered to make them adhere to the new plaster that covered them. Still others were detached with special techniques from the wall on which the artists had created them, mounted on frames and exhibited in museums.

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One of the best preserved examples and still in its original location are the Mazzanti houses, which are located in the central Piazza delle Erbe. The Mazzanti houses were originally the residence of the della Scala family. Mastino I fell victim to an ambush while returning from the dark alley that gave access to the back entrance. It was then that the family that was establishing the seigniory decided to move to a much better equipped palace on Piazza dei Signori. The old palace was then sold to the Mazzanti family, whose name it still bears.

Giulio Romano, Mannerism and Alberto Cavalli

In 1500 the Mazzanti family entrusted the decoration of their houses to the Veronese artist Alberto Cavalli. He was Giulio Romano's pupil and collaborator. The latter, at the beginning of '500 had replaced Mantegna as an artist of the court of the Gonzaga in Mantua. Coming from Rome had brought in northern Italy the new style of painting inspired by the work of Michelangelo: the Mannerism. Alberto Cavalli worked on the decoration of Palazzo Te and transferred to Verona his taste for the monumental plasticity of bodies and for bright colors. The Mazzanti Houses are one of the elements that contribute to characterizing Piazza delle Erbe, the heart of Verona's historic center.