The city of Verona is listed as a UNESCO World Heritage site. This is to highlight how the city has continuously developed from the ancient Roman times to the present all the while preserving their heritage. I guess you can think of Verona as the poster child of UNESCO when it comes to preservation. Among the heritage structures here in the Verona, I think none are more representative of this philosophy of preserving what is there than the Church of San Fermo Maggiore. Why do I say this? It is because of the presence of a lower and upper church which I suspect was a result of not wanting to destroy existing structures.

The Church of San Fermo Maggiore is not a huge church by any means but this doesn’t mean they can’t build on top of an existing one. The church has two levels almost the same size as each other which makes it different from chapels or crypts which are common in old churches. As you might expect, the upper church is brighter because it has the windows. If I didn’t see the way to the lower church, I would have probably missed it since one would not think that there are actually two levels to the church. The upper church is much better decorated compared to the lower one. There are smaller actual chapels which surround the upper church and they are likewise decorated well with frescoes and paintings.

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