Area archeologica di Corte Sgarzarie

In Verona’s former Forum, the Area archeologica di Corte Sgarzarie opens beneath the medieval Corte Sgarzarie. The accessible remains belong to a Roman Capitolium complex. A staircase leads you into the cryptoporticus, a covered corridor supporting the artificial platform above. Barrel vaults once covered its 4.5-metre-wide passages.

Construction began in the second half of the first century BC and finished around 20 BC. The temple honoured Jupiter, Juno and Minerva. Tuscan columns, a large staircase and porticoes connected this religious centre with Verona’s political life. A fire damaged the triporticus in the fourth century, while abandonment and later building transformed the site.

Excavations uncovered two bronze fragments from Roman cadastral tables. These rare records preserve landowners’ names and property measurements, including names with Celtic origins. A sestertius of Domitian, dated to 95 AD, also survived inside a portico wall. Above the ruins, medieval wool processing and trade added another layer to Corte Sgarzarie’s history.