To better appreciate the next site, one would need to understand a bit of Verona history. In particular, the thirteenth century. At the time, Italy wasn’t united and it was composed of various republics and communes. Verona was one such commune and even back then, the leaders of the commune were elected by the people. It started when Ezzelino III da Romano was elected to the leadership position or rather, he wasn’t reelected to the position. In a scene that was repeated throughout history, he staged a power grab and named himself leader. He was later killed by another faction and long story short, there was a lot of infighting and killing within the family.

Of the descendants, Cansignorio della Scala was credited as the one who beautified Verona by building palaces and aqueducts. There was also a war of expansion going on and at one point had control of almost all of Veneto, except Venice. All of these would when the Scaligers exhausted their funds and fled Verona. Although they were suppose to be elected, it almost sounded like they were royalty. In a lot of ways they were. They wielded enormous power and had control over vast tracts of land. They even have their own military. As with any ruling family, the established their own place for their tombs.

The Scaligers Tombs is behind the Santa Maria Antica in the middle of Verona. The tombs were open air, contrary to the other tombs that I have seen elsewhere. There are several tombs here of the various members of the Della Scala family. Ones eyes would probably be drawn to the most elaborately done tomb and that is the one for Cansignorio della Scala. There are also several more sarcophagi which are much less elaborate compared to that one. While the tombs are probably something you might expect from a royal family, what I found most intriguing was that they were open air and not inside a church. It is amazing to me that these tombs have remained intact all these years considering how busy this area of Verona is. I think it is another testament to how well the Veronese know how to preserve their history.

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