VERONA (ITALY)
The period from V to XII centuries was a tumultuous time in the history of Verona: Goths who conquered Italy were in VI century defeated by the Byzantines, who in their turn were subdued by the Lombards. In 774, the last king of the Lombards, Adelchi, was defeated in Verona by the francs of Carl; that marked the end of the period of the Lombards’ dominion.
Since that time, throughout several more wars the city was used as a fortress. In the beginning, Romano predominated in the city; then it got into the hands of Della Scala (1262), who significantly enlarged the city and its surroundings. Starting from 1387, Verona became a territory of Visconti, later — Carrara; and, finally, in 1405 — Serenissima. Under Venetia’s authority almost four centuries of relative peace followed with a short but bloody break (1509-1516) during the Cambre League War when the city was occupied by the imperial army.
In 1796, the city was taken by Napoleon’s army, and in 1797 was given to the Austrians according to Campoforma peace treaty. According to Luneville treaty (1801), Verona was divided into two parts — French to the left, Austrian — to the right. It continued to be so until 1805 when the entire city once again was taken over by the French.
As a result of the Vienna congress (1815), the city of Verona was continuously in Austria’s hands and remained there until 1866. It became the highest strategically important result of the summit because the city was to the Habsburgs a crucial military point that was supposed to become a buffer in case of an invasion from Piedmont. The city came under the jurisdiction of the Italian government on October 16 of 1866 at the time of the seizure of Veneto during the third war for independence.
In 1882, a terrible flood occurred in Verona when the Adige River went out of its banks and flooded a significant part of the city. In the following years walls were built to protect the city from other similar events.
During the WWII, Verona was subject to air bombings and suffered greatly from bombs. After the fall of fascism (1943), Verona became the center of a court trial initiated against Galeatso Ziano and other fascist bosses.
After the war, when Italy joined NATO, Verona once again obtained strategic significance, taking into consideration its relatively close location to the Iron Curtain. Given that, the city became the home of the headquarters of NATO’s FTASE during the entire period of the cold war. Not only so, mighty military presence of the USA continued to stay there, which weakened only in the latest years.
Verona today is an important and dynamically developing city that is economically active and attracts a big number of tourists because of its one-thousand-year long history where the ancient Rome’s past co-exists next to dim medieval Verona of the bloodthirsty Scaligers.
Verona’s walls erected at the time of the Habsburg dominion still exist. One can mark out the medieval historical downtown where the remains of later buildings are preserved (“Renaissance” of XVIII-XIX centuries), districts of Veronetta and San Zeno fully consisting of the buildings of the medieval epoch. In some areas walls of villas and palaces in Baroque style were erected as well as industrial zones of Borgo Roma on the edge of the XIX and XX centuries and, finally, the modern city.
Verona can boast in having walls that were built at different times but can still be seen:
- In several places the walls of the Roman Empire, of which, unfortunately, only ruins are left, can still be seen. Antique city’s gates – Porta Borsari and Porta Leoni – are preserved;
- Walls of Bridge Aleardi dating back from XIII century with three towers, the most famous of which is Pentagon Tower and Portoni della Bra that lead to the main square of the city Piazza Bra;
- On the hill of Saint Peter walls remain built by the Scalla family – more than 15 towers;
- Embankments from the outer wall built by Venetians as well as several bastions;
- Partition walls and earthworks built by Austrians are left almost intact.
During Roman dominion in Verona two walls of the epoch of later Republic and less famous but better preserved, so-called the Gallien Walls built on Gallien’s order in 265 to protect the city from Aleani were built. The republican wall was over 900 meters long.