Piazza delle Erbe: Verona Travel Guide (4.7★)

Standing on the Roman forum

Underfoot is two thousand years of Verona. Piazza delle Erbe sits on the site of the city’s Roman forum, and it has been a marketplace ever since. The square is long and slightly bent rather than a neat rectangle, and the stalls run down its middle.

White canvas umbrellas cover the market stalls. Around them stand frescoed house fronts, a medieval merchants’ hall, a baroque palace topped with statues and a brick tower you can climb. The cafés push their tables out to the edge of the stalls. It is one of the most-reviewed public spaces in Verona, and on a weekend afternoon you will see why.

Reading the square end to end

Walk the square slowly, from one end to the other. Most visitors only look at what’s at eye level. The good stuff is overhead.

• Palazzo Maffei: the baroque palace closing the north end, with a row of statues of Greek gods along its roofline. Inside is the Palazzo Maffei Casa Museo art collection.
• Column of St Mark: the stone column in front of it, topped by the winged lion of Venice. It marks the centuries when Verona answered to the Venetian Republic.
• Madonna Verona fountain: built in 1368 under Cansignorio della Scala. The statue on top is a Roman figure that was reused, so it’s older than the fountain.
• Casa dei Mercanti: the crenellated brick merchants’ hall from 1301, on the western side.
• Case Mazzanti: the houses at the corner with Via Mazzini, their fronts covered in faded Renaissance frescoes.
• Torre del Gardello: the 14th-century brick clock tower.
• The Tribuna: a small stone canopy in the middle of the market. City officials were sworn in here, and proclamations were read out to the crowd.

The whale rib under Arco della Costa

Look up as you leave the square. Arco della Costa connects Piazza delle Erbe to Piazza dei Signori, and a huge curved bone hangs from chains under its vault. It is a whale rib, and it has been hanging there for centuries.

The local legend says it will fall on the first person who walks under it having never told a lie. So far it hasn’t fallen. Locals pass under it without a glance, while visitors tend to stop dead and point.

Right beside the arch, the Torre dei Lamberti rises 84 metres over the square. You can climb it or take the lift, and the top looks straight down onto the umbrellas. Its hours shift through the year, so check the official site before you plan around it.

The 7am square

The square never closes, but its mood changes a lot through the day. Between 7am and 9am, weekdays and weekends alike, it is at its quietest. The stalls are going up and the cafés are setting out chairs. You can photograph the frescoes without anyone in your way.

Try not to arrive on a weekend between 11am and 11pm. That’s when the square fills and stays full well into the evening. Tour groups gather around the fountain, and café tables are hard to find. If you can only come on a Saturday or Sunday, an early start is your best bet.

Spritz under the umbrellas

Evenings here are about the aperitivo. Spritz is Verona’s drink, and in the early evening the café tables around the square fill with people having one before dinner. It usually comes with small snacks on the side.

A few things to know before you sit down:

• Sitting costs more than standing. In Italy, table service on a famous square is priced higher than a drink at the bar inside. The menu shows both prices.
• Look for the coperto. Many places add a cover charge per person, and it’s printed on the menu.
• Tipping is optional. Rounding up is enough, and nobody expects a percentage on top.
• Ask for the bill. Waiters won’t bring it until you ask for “il conto”, so you can stay as long as you like.

Most of the market stalls sell souvenirs now, along with some fruit and snacks. Ask before you handle the produce, and haggling isn’t the custom.

Getting there on foot

The square is in the pedestrian heart of the old town. Don’t drive in. Most of the centre is a ZTL (limited traffic zone), and cameras fine cars that enter without a permit, so park outside it.

From Verona Porta Nuova station, the walk takes about 25 minutes through Porta Nuova and up to Piazza Bra. City buses also run from the station to Piazza Bra. From Bra, walk up Via Mazzini, Verona’s main shopping street, and you come out at the Case Mazzanti corner of the square in under ten minutes.

A short loop from the square

Everything nearby is within easy walking distance. Give the square itself an hour, or two if you climb the tower and stop for a drink.

• Piazza dei Signori: through the whale-rib arch. It’s quieter and more formal, with a statue of Dante in the middle.
• Scaliger Tombs: the Gothic tombs of the della Scala family, just past Piazza dei Signori.
• Juliet’s House: on Via Cappello, a few minutes south of the square. The courtyard is small and gets very crowded.
• Arena di Verona: the Roman amphitheatre on Piazza Bra, at the far end of Via Mazzini.

Come back after dark if you can. Once the stalls pack up, the market space opens up and the palace facades are lit. On weekends it stays busy until late.