Sant'Anastasia, Verona



The chiesa di Sant'Anastasia, or the Basilica of Saint Anastasia (Basilica di Santa Anastasia) is a church built by the Dominican Order in Verona, northern Italy. In Gothic style, it is the largest church in the city, located in its most ancient district, near the Ponte Pietra.

History
Construction of the current church started in 1280 on the site of an earlier church of the Lombard period. Designed by Dominican friars Fra' Benvenuto da Imola and Fra' Nicola da Imola, it was largely completed by 1400, although works continued intermittently throughout much of the 14th and 15th centuries. The new church retained the name of the older church, which had been dedicated to the virgin saint Anastasia of Sirmium, a fourth century martyr, by tradition through the patronage of the Arian king, Theoderic the Great. Since 1307, it has had the dual dedication, along with Anastasia, to St. Peter of Verona, the first Dominican martyr and co-patron of the city. The church was held by the Dominicans until 1808.

The 72 m belltower had four bells in 1460, the fifth was added in 1650. In the 1839, the nine bells were re-cast and tuned in C; they are rung in Veronese bell ringing-style by a local team founded in 1776, now called Scuola campanaria Verona.

The church is similar in structure to the Basilica of San Zanipolo in Venice.

Façade and exterior
The façade is divided into three vertical sections corresponding to the nave and the two aisles in the interior. Unfinished, the façade is mostly in brickwork. In the centre of the middle section is a simple rose window.

The 15th-century portal has two doors and is enclosed in a Gothic structure (1330) with arches supported by ornamental columns in red, black and white marble. The arches forms three lunettes: in the larger one is a representation of the Holy Trinity with two angels, flanked by St. Joseph and the Holy Virgin. The Father sits on a Gothic throne with Crucifix on his knees and Christ at his side, surmounted by a dove. In the two smaller lunettes, directly over the portal, are portrayed the Bishop leading the Veronese people and St. Peter of Verona leading the friars, with the white-and-black banner of the Dominicans. The five splays of the Gothic arch are decorated with six chronological scenes of Jesus' life: the Annunciation, the Nativity, the Adoration of the Magi, the Path to Calvary, the Crucifixion, and the Resurrection. The central column between the doors has high-reliefs with Saint Dominic, St. Peter of Verona and St. Thomas Aquinas.

The architrave has three statues: the central and larger is a Madonna and Child of the Venetian school, while the other represents Saints Anastasia of Sirmium and Catherine of Alexandria at the Wheel.

The side sections of the façade, corresponding to the aisles, have large stained-glass, mullioned windows, flanked by two square belfries.

To the left of the church entrance, Guglielmo di Castelbarco, podestà of Verona, built an arch that became his tomb (Arca) anticipating the more famous Scaliger Tombs.

Interior
The interior, on the Latin cross plan, is divided into a nave and two aisles, with crossed vaults, separated by six columns each; the latter are in white or red Verona marble, with Gothic capitals. The four columns over the high altar show the coat of arms of the Castelbarco of Trento, a family who extensively contributed to the church's construction. Notable is the funerary monument to Cortesia Serego, on the left of the apse, which was finished in 1432 by Vincenzo di Stefano da Verona. It portrays the riding figure of Cortesia, clad with an armor and holding a commanding wand. His horse stands upon the sculpted sarcophagus, which has always been empty. The fresco part represents the Annunciation and the Saints Peter of Verona and Dominic.

The two stoups before the first two columns stands on two hunchback figures, one of which attributed to Paolo Veronese's elder son, Gabriele Caliari.

The Pellegrini Chapel houses the late International Gothic fresco of St. George and the Princess, a major work by Pisanello, as well as terracotta statues by Michele di Firenze, executed before 1436. A frieze by the latter, or by Pisanello, has now disappeared. The Pellegrini chapel also houses the grave of Wilhelm von Bibra.

The church ends with a large apse.