Torre abbaziale di San Zeno

A 10-minute walk NE of Castellvecchio. The church is dedicated to Verona's patron saint, Zeno, a 4th-century North African and a keen fisherman who was ordained Bishop of Verona in 363. Zeno's tomb lies in a shrine in the church undercroft, and he is also commemorated in a grinning medieval statue in full episcopal robes, dangling a golden fish on the end of a fishing rod. The entrance to the church is graced with an ornate Romanesque façade by Nicolò; like the cathedral, this church was erected after the earthquake of 1117. The church was a centre of European pilgrimage for centuries; pilgrims were greeted by huge 10-metre frescoes of St Peter, patron saint of pilgrims. Visitors across the centuries have left their mark - pilgrims happily inscribed graffiti in the frescoes, and signatures dating from 1390 survive to this day. There is also graffiti left by the invading Austrians in 1865.

WIKIVOYAGE · VERONA · CC BY-SA 4.0 ↗