For millennia it has helped people to cross over Verona’s proud river.
A magic connection between the two shores of the Adige River, Ponte Pietra has an old and tormented story to tell. It was built at a spot on the river where there has been a ford ever since prehistor between the hills of San Pietro in the flatlands. Since its alignment does not match with the Roman urban layout, characterized by a grid of streets, one is led to believe that it existed before 89 B.C.. Over the centuries, it fell down several times, always followed by phases of re- construction and restoration, the last of which took place in 1957-59, after it was destroyed at the time of the German infantry retreat during World War II. When the bridge was exploded, they stone blocks and bricks landed in the river, from where they were recuperated, put in order, and numbered, for the purpose of reusing them.
Ponte Pietra is Verona’s only surviving Roman bridge, and it is composed of five arches. It is 95 m long and approximately 4 m wide, made of white marble in its original parts, and red bricks in the parts
wich were reconstructed during the Scala lordship. Funtioning together with nearby Ponte Postumio, wich today no longer exists, it was sometimes used as a damn to sport naval combat in between.
The church of San Giorgio in Braida
Walking further from Ponte Pietra towards the area of town called Borgo Trento, one discovers the Church of San Giorgio in Braida. It was born a Benedectine monastery in 1046, and completely renovated as a Renaissance structure in 1441. A dominant element o the edifice is its dome, designed by Michele Sanmicheli, and whose construction required the demolition of an adiacent Romanesque tower made of tufo stone. Inside the church, one discovers very important paintings by masters such as Domenico Tintoretto, Domenico and Felice Brusasorci and a tryly splendid masterpiece is the Martirio di San Giorgio, by Paolo Veronese.
