Santa Maria Antica, Romanesque church in Verona, Italy

Santa Maria Antica is a Romanesque church in Verona, rebuilt after the 1117 earthquake and consecrated in 1185. Its northern side shows alternating bands of tuff and brick, and the side portal is topped by the monumental arch of Cangrande I della Scala, crowned by an equestrian statue. The interior has three naves divided by five pairs of undecorated columns.

The building was constructed in the 8th century but an earthquake in 1117 destroyed the original structure, leading to its reconstruction. The consecration by the Patriarch of Aquileia in 1185 marked when the structure achieved its current basic form.

The Scaligeri turned the church into their family chapel in the 13th and 14th centuries, building the monumental tombs known as the Arche Scaligere beside it. The sarcophagi of Mastino I, Alberto I, Bartolomeo I, Cangrande II, Bartolomeo II, Mastino II and Cansignorio are preserved there, while Cangrande I's ark crowns the side entrance portal.

The entrance is located on Via Arche Scaligere 3, directly next to Piazza dei Signori and easy to find. Plan your visit during religious celebrations when the church is actively used for worship.

The 8th-century monastery founded by the sisters Auctonda and Natalia left only a fragment of black-and-white mosaic floor and a piece of ciborium reused in the masonry. Excavations in the area also uncovered about fifty burials from the 11th-century cemetery that once occupied the monastery's former vegetable plots.