Goethe's Tree

Corso Porta Borsari is one of the most emblematic streets in the historic center of Verona, stretching 310 meters from the eponymous Porta Borsari, one of the access gates to the Roman city, to Piazza Erbe, the oldest square in Verona where the Roman Forum was located.

The street partly covers the ancient decumanus maximus and is entirely pedestrian. Along its sides, one can admire places of great historical attraction such as the Chiesa di San Giovanni in Foro, the only church in Verona dedicated to the Evangelist and probably of Paleochristian origin, although it was first mentioned only in 959 and was rebuilt in Romanesque style in the 12th century after a severe fire struck much of the city; Corte Sgarzerie, an extraordinary archaeological area built in the second half of the 1st century B.C. where the remains of the Capitolium, the main temple of Roman Verona dedicated to Jupiter, Juno, and Minerva, can be found, which was used in medieval times for the processing and buying and selling of wool; Palazzo Rizzardi, one of the few examples of Baroque architecture in Verona; and the Torre del Gardello, probably built by the Gardello family before the Scaliger lordship but restored and elevated in 1370 on the orders of Cansignorio della Scala to enhance the prestige of the family and the city, although the tower reached its current height of 44 meters only after further work in 1626.