Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
ligeri clan, who were as much energetic patrons of the arts as they were murderous tyr-
ants. Their elaborate Gothic tombs, the
Arche Scaligere
, are just off Piazza dei Signori.
Under Cangrande I (1308-28) Verona conquered Padua and Vicenza, with Dante,
Petrarch and Giotto benefitting from the city's patronage. But the fratricidal rage of Can-
grande II (1351-59) complicated matters, and the Scaligeri were run out of town in 1387.
Venice took definitive control in 1404, ruling until Napoleon's arrival in 1797.
The city became a Fascist control centre from 1938 to 1945, a key location for Resist-
ance interrogation and transit point for Italian Jews sent to Nazi concentration camps.
Today, as the city grapples with its changing identity as an international commercial
centre, it has become a Lega Nord (Northern League) stronghold. Yet the city is a Unesco
World Heritage Site and a cosmopolitan crossroads, especially in summer when the
2000-year-old arena hosts opera's biggest names.
