Piazza delle Erbe

Piazza delle Erbe occupies the area of Verona's Roman forum and has remained a centre of commerce and public life through successive centuries. Its irregular space is enclosed by civic buildings, frescoed façades and monuments that reveal the city's Roman, communal, Scaliger and Venetian layers.

The square is both a landmark and an active gathering place. Market stalls and café terraces animate it during the day, while nearby passages connect it with Piazza dei Signori, Torre dei Lamberti and the Scaliger Tombs.

This is a working market square and the busiest crossing in the old city, so it is never quiet in the middle of the day and the façades spend the daylight hours behind stalls and awnings. There is also no single object to come and see: the square rewards looking at the accumulation of six centuries, which is a slower kind of attention than a monument asks for, and visitors arriving with twenty minutes and a list tend to leave wondering what they missed.

Nothing, and that is unusual for what you get. This is a public square, so the Roman forum's footprint, six centuries of façades around the edges, Casa Mazzanti's painted front, the Madonna Verona fountain and the column of the Lion of St Mark are all free, at any hour, with no gate and no closing time.

The two things on the square that are ticketed are separate attractions with their own entrances: the Torre dei Lamberti, which you pay for round the corner in the Cortile Mercato Vecchio, and the Palazzo Maffei's museum. Neither is needed to see the square itself.

No ticket, no hours

The square is public space, free, and crossable at any hour. What has opening times is everything in it: the market stalls, the cafés, and the Torre dei Lamberti, which is entered from the courtyard behind rather than from the square.

Timing, which is the only real decision here

Early morning is when the architecture is legible — the façades are clear of stalls and awnings, and the frescoes on Casa Mazzanti catch the light from the east. Evening is when the square is at its most alive and least photographable. They are genuinely different visits and it is worth making both, since it costs nothing to walk through twice.

Avoid expecting a quiet look at midday in season: the centre fills with market traffic and the narrow pedestrian flow through to Piazza dei Signori becomes the busiest line in the old city.

Getting your bearings

The arch at the northern end, the Arco della Costa, leads through to Piazza dei Signori; the Torre dei Lamberti entrance is on that passage. Casa Mazzanti is the frescoed front on the long side, the Palazzo Maffei closes the north end, and the column with the Venetian lion stands between them.

A public square, level and paved throughout, with no gate, ticket or closing time — and Verona’s own destination portal answers its accessibility question with "the square is completely accessible", which for once takes the guesswork out. The whole of it — the façades, the Madonna Verona fountain, the column of the Lion of St Mark, Casa Mazzanti’s painted front — is read from flat ground.

The one thing worth knowing is that the market stalls narrow the middle of the square during the day, so the clear view along it is early or late rather than at noon. Café terraces take up the edges in season.

The fountain and painted façades draw people into the same narrow viewpoints, especially when the market is active. Taking photographs from the edge of the pedestrian flow keeps the centre of the square usable. The surrounding buildings still contain homes and workplaces, even when the piazza feels like an open-air stage.