Verona dei viaggiatori polacchi (XVII–XIX secolo)
The Verona of Polish Travellers (17th–19th Centuries)

Summary/Abstract: The study presents the first analysis of the descriptions of Verona and the works of art collected in the city in the accounts of Polish travellers from the 17 th to 19 th centuries. As the researched source material shows, initially Poles visited the city only while passing through, on their way to Venice, stopping for a moment to see the only object “worth seeing”: the 1 st -century Roman amphitheatre located in the city centre. At that time, the descriptions of the city are laconic, as Verona was considered “secondary” in Italy. Only in the era of the "Grand Tour", and especially in the second half of the 18 th century, did Polish travellers intentionally visit Verona. They employed an experienced tour guide from the Bevilacqua family (recommended to their countrymen by Ignacy Potocki). They used specialised literature (Torello Saraina’s "Dell’origine et ampiezza della città di Verona", Verona 1586; Scipione Maffei’s "Verona illustrata e Museum veronense hoc est antiquarum inscriptionum atque anaglyphorum collectio", Verona 1749; and Giovanni Battista Da Persico’s "Descrizione di Verona e della sua provincia", Verona 1820), the purchase of which became one of the goals of a visit to Verona. In the 18 th century, the sightseeing route (reconstructed based on the accounts of Katarzyna Plater) included ancient architecture (Roman amphitheatre; Borsari Gate; Vitruvius Arch; Gavi Arch), museum collections (ancient art by Scipione Maffei; collections of paintings and sculptures of the Bevilacqua family; and Francesco Calzolar’s "Theatrum naturae", where the most admired objects were fossils from Monte Bolca), the modern architecture of Michele Sanmicheli (Palio Gate and Cappella Pellegrini), and Venetian paintings (Tintoretto and Veronese). Only in the 19 th century did the church of San Zeno appear among Verona’s must-see sites, described in detail as an excellent and rare example of Romanesque architecture; the house and tomb of Juliet was also included, though its state of preservation was completely inadequate to the image of Shakespeare’s drama and it tended to disappoint travellers.

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