Verona Hidden Treasures

In Verona you just need to turn a corner, pass over a wall, enter a square or a courtyard in Verona to discover artistic, architectural and historical jewels, outside the usual itineraries and tourist routes. Here are some proposals to build or enrich guided tours out of the ordinary.

An ideal tour for those who already know Verona and want to discover its lesser-known aspects. The suggestions are just a few ideas for composing an itinerary tailored to your own preferences and interests. Or you can leave it up to your Verona tour guide to create an itinerary that will surprise you.

Oncoming Tours

Tour Info

Half day tour

2h approx.

All day tour

4h/5h to split before and after lunch.

Who is this tour for

Those who already know Verona and want to deepen their knowledge of their city. Visitors who prefer unusual itineraries away from crowds and beaten paths.

Accessibility

Some of the proposed sites have architectural barriers.

Giusti Garden

It is a splendid example of Italian style garden. It was created in the second half of the fifteenth century by the Giusti family on the back of their palace.

In the lower part is the typical Italian garden with geometric hedges of boxwood, a labyrinth, cypresses, mythological statues, memorial stones and Roman epigraphs. In the upper part, the garden is freed from constraints and becomes a forest with rare essences, rocks and artificial caves. Some paths lead to the hill from which you can enjoy a secret view of the city of Verona. In the past it was visited by personalities such as Cosimo de' Medici, Goethe, Mozart.

Capitolare Library Cloister

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San Giovanni in Fonte

Pellegrini Chapel

From a small opening in the dark church of San Bernardino, suddenly you find yourself in the Cappella Pellegrini, the work of Renaissance architect Michele Sanmicheli, a place outside of space and time, whose beauty and atmosphere transport the visitor into a rare mystical contemplation. There are no words to describe the funeral monument that Margherita Pellegrini wanted to dedicate to her son, you just have to see it. Ask a tour guide to take you there.

Sala Morone

This magnificent hall was entirely frescoed by Domenico Morone with the help of his son Francesco. The Morone Room is one of Verona's most important Renaissance works. Along the walls unfolds a succession of illustrious Franciscans, including the order's popes, painted life-size on podiums in careful perspective. The realism is such that inside you almost feel in awe, as if they were there with us. On the main wall there is a polyptych of clear Mantegna inspiration with Madonna, patrons, saints and martyrs in front of a bright landscape. It is not exactly easy to access, but your tour guide knows how to take you there.

Teuteria and Tosca church

One of the oldest and most suggestive churches in Verona. Documents prove its existence in 751, but the lowered construction plan makes it almost certain that it dates back to the fifth century. It is probably the oldest church in the Veneto region. The shape is archaic, a Latin cross with a raised central part that makes it similar to the mausoleum of Galla Placidia in Ravenna. The attribution to the saints Teuteria and Tosca is very ancient and is based on peculiar stories and legends. It is accessed through a narrow passage behind the sacristy of the church of S.S. Apostles but with our tour guide you will have no difficulty in reaching it.

Santa Maria in Organo wooden inlays

The church of Santa Maria in Organo, along the walls of the presbytery, behind the altar, is "hidden" one of the most incredible works of art in Verona: the wooden inlays of fra Giovanni da Verona.

These are forty-one seats whose back panels, framed by densely carved pillars, are made up of incredible wooden stalls. They represent a summa of the Italian perspective art, with foreshortenings of closets, architectures, views of the city so accurate that it is difficult to believe that they are not paintings but made from a "puzzle" of woods of different colors. The leggio and the candelabra carved by Fra Giovanni can also be admired.These are forty-one seats whose back panels, framed by densely carved pillars, are made up of incredible wooden stalls. They represent a summa of the Italian perspective art, with foreshortenings of closets, architectures, views of the city so accurate that it is difficult to believe that they are not paintings but made from a "puzzle" of woods of different colors. The leggio and the candelabra carved by Fra Giovanni can also be admired.

Garage Fiat

It was designed by architect Ettore Fagiuoli, the author of Verona's renovation at the beginning of the 20th century. He left his mark on the city with works such as the Cathedral Bell Tower, the Ponte della Vittoria, the Synagogue, and was the creator of the scenographs for the first operatic performances at the Arena. The Fiat garage is a true masterpiece of Deco architecture. Recently restored, it now houses a supermarket.

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San Giovanni in Valle

Together with a tour guide discover the church of San Giovanni in Valle. Built in the Vallum (hence the name), the fortified area on the hill of Verona, where in the dark centuries that followed the fall of the Roman Empire, the rulers perched lombards, it also did not escape unscathed by the earthquake of 1117. In 1120 it was rebuilt by the bishop Ognibene who made it a small masterpiece of Romanesque art of Verona. The interior is dark and evocative, with the apses richly decorated with floral friezes, hunting scenes of velvets thirsty for prey that creep through the spaces left free by the thick foliage, capitals with lions from the body contracted in the effort to support the lintels. All elements that reflect Islamic accents that filtered from nearby Venice. Inside there are still traces of the pictorial decoration in fresco.

San Lorenzo

Built just outside the ancient Roman wall around the fourth century and dedicated to San Lorenzo. Damaged by the earthquake of 1117 was rebuilt in its present form, a jewel of Romanesque art, whose scalar towers, the matronei still present, the vertical momentum, the complexity of the naves and apses inside, make it a monument of originality more unique than rare in the Italian architectural scene. Let yourself be accompanied by a tourist guide in one of the most suggestive atmospheres of the city.

San Zeno in Oratorio

Built close to the Adige, well hidden by the houses and a small courtyard in front is this little Romanesque gem, almost a miniature of the church of San Zeno major. In it, in its quiet and collected atmosphere, the river rock that legend says was the favorite of santo patron Zeno, where he sat fishing on the Adige, his favorite pastime when he was not busy "fishing" souls in the pagan Verona of 300 AD. Have a tour guide take you to this hidden jewel of Verona, perhaps on your way to visit "big sister" San Zeno.

Insights