It is a quadrangular building with a beautiful courtyard inside, located on the corner of Signori Square and Erbe Square. Also called the town hall, it has been, over the centuries, the fulcrum of citizens' political power, hosting important Veronese institutions in its large rooms.
The most prestigious is certainly the Chapel of the Notaries, which is located on the first floor, where once there was the Masseria Tower, built in the fifteenth century for Saints Zeno and Daniele, by the Venerable College of Notaries. Within its walls we can admire one of the most important decorative complexes made on public commission in the city's history.
Today the main floor of the building houses the Achille Forti Gallery of Modern Art. Leaving the internal courtyard we enter Signori Square, or also called as Dante Square, for the statue located in its center. Surrounded by elegant Scaliger palaces, it was built in the Middle Ages, and immediately assumed some important political, administrative and representative functions.
All the historical-main streets of Verona converge towards Erbe Square, or the central point of the city, where an animated and colorful market is held every day. Once the square was a Roman forum, the center of political and economic life, its fountain, located in the center, was built with Roman materials of the time.
The square, as we see it today, dates back to the Lordship period, a historical moment in which several buildings arose, such as the Gardello Tower, which with its 44 m is among the highest and most important in Verona. In fact, its history is linked to the development of the city, in addition to being one of the first achievements of mechanical technological progress, its public clock was the first that could be consulted by everyone.
Finally we find the Lamberti Tower, a medieval tower 84 high which stands right on Erbe Square, built by the Lamberti family in the 11th century. In the following century it became the civic tower of the city, placing a large bell on its top, intended to mark the moments of daily life in the inhabited center.
Subsequently the bell was recast several times, thus becoming famous for marking the executions of the death sentences, various alarms such as fire signals and for the gathering of the militias. Do not miss the climb to the tower today, from Ragione Palace, to enjoy the magnificent panorama of the historic center of Verona and its surrounding hills.
