Corte Sgarzerie Cryptoporticus Historical Timeline

Origins

Roman Verona's forum occupied what is now Piazza delle Erbe, and at its southern end stood the Capitolium -- the temple of the Capitoline Triad that every Roman colony of standing possessed.

Turning points

The ground here falls away, so the temple needed a level platform. The solution was a cryptoporticus: a vaulted gallery built into the slope, carrying the terrace above and providing usable covered space below. It dates from the first century BC.

Influential people

The temple itself is gone entirely, quarried and built over as the city rose. Its substructure survived precisely because it was underground and useful.

Cultural evolution

By the Middle Ages the courtyard above had become the centre of Verona's wool finishing trade. Sgarzerie comes from garzare -- raising the nap on cloth with teasels -- and the Loggia del Mangano takes its name from the press used in the same process.

Present-day significance

The gallery was rediscovered and cleared in the twentieth century. It is now a small archaeological area under municipal care, opened for guided visits and events rather than on daily hours.