Santa Maria Antica is a romanesque style church in the historiacal centre of Verona, at one side of the Scaliger gothich sarcophagus.
It stands on the spot where a previous little church of the 8th century was; it was destroyed by an earthquake in 1117, then it was rebuilt.
The new temple was consacreted in 1185 by the patriarc of Aquileia, whilst in 1177 the major altar was consacrated by Pope Alexander III in 1177. During the scaliger time it became "the private chapel" of the Scala Family, who had the scaliger archs built at the sides, the family cimitery.
Through the centuries it was modified several times, expecially inside, but in the late 1800s it was brought back to its original basic.
You enter the church through the side entrance, above which is the sarcophagus of Can Grande I Della Scala. The sarcophagus is set within a trefoil arch and towered above by an equestrian statue of the prince, a faithful reproduction of the original one which is in the museum of Castelvecchio.
The inside of the church has three naves, separated by two groups of seven columns of red marble topped with squared capitals and raised curved arches ending with many little apses carved into the wall.
A mosaic with black and white chequered decorations recalling the original floor of the church of Santa Maria Antica ( mid 8th century ) was discovered in the 19th century.
Recent archeological researches have proved the existance of a rather large cimiterial area nearby the church.
About 50 graves were found here, all of them belonging to an age later than the foundation of the church and most of it may be dated 11th century.
