The St. Mary banner. (Franklin, Parish of St. Mary, La.) 1889-1931, 1916-02-05
. HE, bombardment of Verona by
Austrian aviators added d new
chapter to the history of

Austrian dNldtoFS HuuSu d UtN
chapter to the history Of a
town which was no mean
city" in the great days of imperial
Rome. says Sir Martin Conway in
Country Life.
twenty-five thousand spectators
could then have found accommodation
together in the stately amphitheater
which still exists Diocletian built 1t
(about 900 A. d. of white and red
Verona marble. and all sorts of princes
have caused it to be restored. Its royal
platform has been occupied by who
shall say how many famous person
ages, but none of them greater than
Theodore the Ostrogoth, who made
his name from 1t in medieval legend.
Dietrich of Bern. The NerOneSe in
deed, i'll taught by bigoted churchmen.
scarcely held his memory In due
honor, if they are rightly represented
by the inscription on Sculptured tlg-
ure of him by the door of San Zeno S.
where he is described as an Aran
hereto (Which he was) and is said to
be riding to hell on the horse given to
him by Satan.
Other Roman memories are pre-
served by the city in its ruined theater
and in remnants of Notifications and
gates The walls, as they now stand
belong to five different periods of
building and rebuilding, and the
earliest of these temp. Gallienus)
were doubtless not the first. Theo-
Goric's work comes next; considerable
fragments Of its courses or stone ana
herringbone brick can be discovered
by anyone who hunts for them A
later style is shown in the work as
cribed to Charlemagne; and after that
come medieval and renaissance FORTH
cations, each marking period OF pros
perity in the citys fortunes. 1t is not.
however, Roman Verona that people
love and travel to see. but the Verona
of the middle ages, the Verona OF
Romeo and Juliet, of the Scaligers
and the great artists-Pisanello and
the rest-a city of the south in which
the northern breeZes also blow. and
where between east and west. LON
hardy and Venice, divergent ideals
meet and sometimes mingle.
Lombards Were Active There.
Theodore and his OstrOgOths be-
longed by desire and in fact to the last
age of Rome, but their successors the
Lombards clearly ushered in the mid
die age. They came over the Alps as
barbarians but in time Italy civilized
them, and during that process LON
bard architecture was born. Anywhere
from Cividale in the east to Pavia in
the west, traces of their early activi-
ties may still be found-barbarous at
first, presently growing nobler, till by
| the seventh century they were capable
of raising churches which are still de.
lightful to men of modern refinement.
At Verona the LOmbards were particu-
larly active and. were it worth while,
we might display the remnants of
| some of their very early efforts Such
fragments, however, are interesting
only to antiquasians but when we
come to the great churches, San Zeno.
for instance. or the cathedral, it is
evident enough that these are works
of architecture capable of far wider
appeal
San Zeno's. indeed is perhaps of all
purely Lombard churches the finest
as a work of art. 1t is simplicity it.
self in form. but well proportioned
| and in every way agreeable to look
| upon. The existing church was built
in the eleventh century. the nave re-
built in 1888. and the choir in the fif-
teenth century. The most noticeable
exterior feature is the great portal in
| the middle of the west end. 1t is a
| plain oblong opening. surmounted by
a gabled porch which is carried on a
| pair Of columns. themselves support
ed, each on the back of griffin. in
traditional oriental fashion.
| Tombs of the SeaIigers.
It would be easy enough to refer in
turn to q number of other remarkable
| churches in Verona, with their mas
| sive colonnades their dark crypts and
| other delightful features: but we are
not making a guide book, nor in these