Arche Scaligere

In a small enclosure beside the church of Santa Maria Antica, a minute from Piazza dei Signori, stand the tombs of the della Scala family, who ruled Verona through the fourteenth century.

They are among the finest Gothic funerary monuments in Italy: stone canopies on columns, each holding a sarcophagus, each topped by the dead lord on horseback in full armour.

The whole group is fenced by a wrought-iron railing carrying the family's emblem, a ladder -- scala -- repeated over and over. It is a coat of arms used as architecture, and it works.

The tombs are exposed white marble that has stood in the open for seven centuries, and their condition shows it. Do not touch the railing's stonework or lean on the enclosure.

This is a narrow street on a busy walking route. Photographers stopping at the railing block it easily -- step aside rather than standing in the flow.

Santa Maria Antica alongside is a working church; keep quiet near its door.

Seeing Cangrande's original statue at Castelvecchio rather than only the copy here is worth the museum ticket, and supports the collection conserving it.

The tombs are visible from the street for free through the iron railing, which is how most people see them and is genuinely adequate -- the enclosure is small and the monuments are tall.

Access inside the enclosure is possible on a ticket, often combined with the Torre dei Lamberti, but opening is limited and seasonal.

They stand beside Santa Maria Antica, a minute's walk from Piazza dei Signori and five from Piazza delle Erbe.

Allow fifteen to twenty minutes. This is a stop within a walk through the centre rather than a destination.

The street outside is level and accessible; the enclosure itself has uneven historic paving.