Basilica of San Zeno

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The Basilica of San Zeno (also known as San Zeno Maggiore or San Zenone) is an important place of worship of the Catholic Church located in the heart of the San Zeno district of Verona. It is considered one of the masterpieces of medieval architecture.

The present church was built on the site where at least five other religious buildings had previously stood. Its origin seems to go back to a church erected over the tomb of Saint Zeno of Verona, who died between 372 and 380. The building was rebuilt at the beginning of the 9th century at the behest of Bishop Ratold and King of Italy Pepin, who deemed it inappropriate for the body of the patron saint to rest in a poor church. Tradition holds that the archdeacon Pacificus contributed to the construction; the consecration took place on 8 December 806, while on 21 May of the following year the body of Saint Zeno was translated into the crypt. During the invasions of the Magyars, who ravaged northern Italy between 899 and 933, the church suffered significant damage, so much so that in 967 Bishop Ratherius had to promote a new reconstruction. Around the end of the 11th century and the beginning of the 12th, a major project was undertaken to renew the church in Romanesque style. Work was interrupted by the devastating 1117 Verona earthquake, but by about 1138 much of the present church had been completed. In the following centuries, the building underwent further modifications and transformations, but these did not alter its layout, which has substantially preserved its medieval character.

Among the numerous works of art, it houses a masterpiece by Andrea Mantegna, the San Zeno Altarpiece. Also famous are the bronze panels of the portal and the large rose window on the façade, called the "Wheel of Fortune", the work of the stonecutter Brioloto de Balneo. Throughout its history, the basilica inspired numerous poets, including Dante Alighieri, Giosuè Carducci, Heinrich Heine, Gabriele D'Annunzio, and Berto Barbarani.

The church, which in 1973 was elevated to the rank of minor basilica, serves as the seat of a parish that belongs to the Vicariate of Central Verona. According to tradition, its crypt was the place of the marriage of Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet.

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