Exterior The church has a gabled facade facing southwest and made of brick. The entrance, which is preceded by a white stone staircase, consists of a portal with a
pointed arch and splayed
imposts, and is crowned by a statue depicting
St. Euphemia. Above and in axis with the portal is a large
oculus with a terracotta ferrule and protected by a double sloping white stone, and above this is a second, smaller oculus. On either side of the portal, above corbels decorated with carved foliage, are two statues probably depicting warrior saints who originally must have been equipped with a sword or lance and holding a shield adorned with the three stars of the Lanfranchini army. On the top of the portal is drawn an inflected cornice on which, at the upper end, is placed a statue of the titular saint of the church, depicted with a book in her hand and lions at her feet, as per traditional iconography. On either side of the portal are two blind mullioned windows with a
tympanum. The façade concludes with an eaves decorated with
Lombard bands and is crowned by three
pinnacles, also made of brick. As on the facade, there are also two valuable funerary monuments on the right side, originally placed inside and placed here in the 18th century. The one closest to the facade is also the smallest and consists of a marble sarcophagus on which is placed a statue of fine workmanship, albeit mutilated. Next there is the
cenotaph of the Verità family, made in 1566, the elegance of which has suggested that the design may have belonged to the Veronese painter
Paolo Farinati.
Cloister It is possible to date the construction of the present
cloister, adjacent to the church, to 1617, due to the discovery of a coeval document that records that the monks “... are building a cloister of such size and beautiful architecture that will have few equals in Italy.” Its design is the work of the architect Domenico Curtoni, already the author of very important works in the city, who chose to move towards a purely classical layout construction, inspired by the works of the famous
Michele Sanmicheli, but inserting new elements and favoring a certain play of light between the upper light and the lower dark. The cloister is characterized by a succession of round arches, supported by tall columns and
capitals of
Tuscan order. Centrally on the
intrados of the arches are embossed the coats of arms of the monastery's benefactor families who supported the work for its construction. Above the arches, a
string-course cornice initiates the upper order consisting of a solid wall on which windows with a
tympanum set at the lower compartments open. In the 17th century the painter Bernardino Muttoni was commissioned to fresco the
lunettes of the arches with Episodes from the Life of St. Augustine, as was customary in cloisters of the time, but no trace of these paintings is now preserved. In the center of the cloister there is a
puteal dating from 1533, the four faces of which are decorated on the corners with acanthus leaves on which are engraved the words “Ave Maria” and the
christogram “IHS.”
Interior The plan of the church has a single hall and is markedly longitudinal, with a
transept endowed with arms of particularly shallow depth and a chancel raised two steps above the rest of the space, terminating in a five-sided, polygonal development
apse. The hall is covered by a
barrel vault with a semi-elliptical cross-section, made of wattle anchored to the trusses above by means of wooden ribs, punctuated by transverse ribs and lateral webs at the windows, just as the lowered hemispherical canopy covering the transept cross is in wattle. In masonry, on the other hand, is the barrel-vaulted ceiling of the chancel. The pictorial decorations of the vaults were made in the 1930s by Gaetano Miolato, and consist of: polychrome frames, liturgical symbols and three paintings depicting the Nativity, the Annunciation and the Presentation of Mary in the Temple on the vault covering of the nave; a
coffered motif with a central
rosette and the Four Prophets in the
pendentives, in the transept cross vault covering; coffered decoration and a Last Supper in the chancel covering; a Sacred Heart of Jesus and four Saints in the five segments of the apse basin. The sides of the hall are marked by a series of pilasters of
composite order set on a high plinth and supporting the top
entablature, between which are fourteen altars, seven on each side; in the transept, separated from the nave by a
Serlian window on pillars on which is painted a choir of angels, is an additional altar dedicated to the Blessed Sacrament, in the right arm, and the
baptistery, in the left arm. Finally, on the left of the chancel is the chapel of St. Rita, also known as St. Augustine's, and on the right is the Spolverini Dal Verme chapel, or Chapel of the Angels. or from a side entrance located along the right side. The first altar on the right side was built by the Lavagnoli family in the late 16th century. The
altarpiece is by the painter
Jacopo Ligozzi in which he painted a Trinity with Saints Anthony Abbot, Louis, King of France, Peter and Augustine shortly before 1577. The work is in the
Renaissance style but with some features characteristic of
Counter-Reformation art. The base of the columns bears the coats of arms of the commissioning family. The third altar was built in the second half of the 16th century but underwent extensive remodeling during the 18th century. The Veronese painter
Domenico Brusasorzi is the author of the altarpiece in which he depicted, between 1540 and 1550, Our Lady and Saints Sebastian, Monica, Augustine and Roch. As was the custom at the time, Brusasorzi inserted the portrait of the patrons in the center of the lower part of the canvas. The altar was commissioned by the Da Cerea nobles whose noble arms are depicted on the sides of the mensa. In the center of the next altar, the fourth, there is placed inside a niche a wooden sculpture depicting a
Madonna of the Girdle, a work from the early 19th century. Giovanni Caliari is the author of the canvas placed around the niche in 1834 depicting Saints Joseph, Anna, Euphemia and Teresa. The altar
reredos was made in the 16th century using
red marble from Verona. The altar canvas, Virgin and St. Thomas of Villanova was painted by
Giambettino Cignaroli in about 1768.
Gian Domenico Cignaroli, on the other hand, is the author of the painting to the right of the altar with Madonna, St. Andrew, St. Lawrence and the Souls in Purgatory, while Fabrizio Cartolari painted the one on the left with St. Thomas of Villanova distributing alms to the poor. The second altar was built by Gian Giacomo Lonardi between 1695 and 1696, also replacing an earlier one that was deemed too modest for the church. The patron's family is remembered through two noble coats of arms placed at the foot of the columns of the altar itself. It features alternating black and white marble; on the
finial is a sculpture, Eternal between two angels, carved by
Francesco Filippini. In the center of the altar is a wooden crucifix emerging from a dark background on which the painter
Sante Prunati painted the figures of Mary and St. John absorbed in grief over Jesus' death. In the center of the third altar is a statue of
Nicholas of Tolentino, an Augustinian saint venerated in St. Euphemia since the second half of the 14th century. It is placed in a niche surrounded by 15 small canvases painted by
Domenico Zanconti between the 18th and 19th centuries with scenes from the life of the titular saint. Commissioners of the altar were members of the Lanfranchini family as evidenced by an inscription engraved at the foot of the right column and the presence of their coat of arms on the
keystone. The next altar, the fourth, belonged to the Campagna family as recalled by their coats of arms engraved next to the mensa; it was made in the 18th century. Diomiro Cignaroli is the author of the two statues representing St. John the Baptist and St. Jerome, while in the center in a niche is placed the sculptural group of the Pietà of St. Euphemia attributable to the second half of the 14th century, the oldest work preserved in the church and the oldest depiction of
pietà in the entire
Veneto region; some critics have noted the similarity with the famous Roettgen Pietà preserved in the
Rheinisches Landesmuseum Bonn. The seventh and last altar is dedicated to
St. Charles Borromeo. It was commissioned in 1618 by Antonio Visconi as recalled by the family coats of arms engraved on the bases of the two columns. The canvas, Madonna and St. Charles Borromeo placed between St. Paul and St. Anthony Abbot, is the work of
Claudio Ridolfi from 1618, recalling the style of
Federico Barocci. A door with a
tympanum opens on the outer wall, allowing access to a short corridor leading to the sacristy. Embedded on the walls of the corridor are fragments of sepulchral seals and a marble plaque attesting to the bequest in favor of girls for marriage offered by parish priest Massimiliano Lanceni in 1782. Above the door hangs a canvas depicting a St. Michael the Archangel, the work of
Paolo Farinati, as attested by the signature “Paulus Farina / tus P. MDLXXIII” discovered in 1950, which refutes the earlier erroneous attribution that indicated
Pasquale Ottino as the author. In the right arm of the crossing is an interesting
detached fresco, most likely by
Martino da Verona, the Coronation of the Virgin, discovered on March 22, 1966 after the removal of the elevation of a piece of furniture and restored three years later; its
sinopia is in the Spolverini Dal Verme chapel. Although critics do not agree precisely on its dating, most date it to the first half of the 15th century, recognizing in it an important example of late Gothic. The painting has been described as clear evidence of the arrival in Verona of a “new current, with very Gothic influences, fuzzy and diminutive signatures, small figures, approaching without further spatial sensitivity,” which would greatly influence local painters.
Presbytery and choir Originally, the walls of the church's vast
chancel must have been almost entirely covered with frescoes from the late 14th and early 15th centuries; only fragments of these paintings survive today, rediscovered since the second half of the 19th century. For example, on the right wall can be seen some remnants, largely hidden by a large 18th-century canvas, of a large fresco depicting a Last Judgment by
Martino da Verona. At the bottom of the
apse, however, is a canvas, restored in 1988, by Veronese painter
Felice Brusasorzi, who had made it around 1573 on commission from the Verità family, who intended to use it for their altar. The subject chosen by Brusasorzi is a Trinity with the interceding Virgin, saints and patriarchs, and for it he was certainly inspired by
Titian's
La Gloria. Below it is the funeral monument of the Dal Verme family built by Jacopo Dal Verme in the late 14th century.
Right apse (or Spolverini-Dal Verme chapel) At the end of the right aisle is a door through which one enters the Spolverini-Dal Verme chapel, which occupies the space of the right apse. Now dedicated to the angels, originally consecrated to
Archangel Raphael at
St. Homobonus, the chapel features interesting pictorial and architectural elements. Its design is due to the architect Giovanni da Ferrara, who began it around the end of 1390 and who designed a decidedly slender ogival vault for it through the use of thin ribs. (1508) The chapel contains pictorial works dating from two distinct periods, 14th and 16th centuries. They are divided into several levels: in the first at the bottom one can recognize the phases of the late 14th-century period, by unknown authors who worked at the same time as the construction of the chapel, while in the later ones one can identify interventions that can be traced back to 1508 by
Giovan Francesco Caroto, who went on to cover the previous
frescoes. Of the early series of frescoes, now partially damaged by time, a few can be seen on the lower right wall; among them a St. Dionysius, interpreted in his traditional iconography while supporting his own head with his hand, and an Archangel Raphael are recognizable. Until about the middle of the 20th century, a depiction of Tobias next to the Archangel was also still visible. Still of the oldest frescoes, on the left wall, a valuable Madonna and Child between two Saints and a devotee can be seen (she is in an unusual position for Veronese culture, that is, standing and surrounded by two saints or knights, perhaps Pietro and Lucchino Dal Verme) placed next to the entrance of the chapel, which is followed by some commemorative fragments of three saints: a St. Roch, a St. Sebastian, and probably a St. Lawrence, of a much lower quality than the Madonna. Most of the left wall of the chapel is, however, decorated by the later fresco cycles painted by Giovan Francesco Caroto around 1508 in which he depicted on two overlapping sections Stories of Tobias and Stories of the Archangel Raphael. In the top register, Tobias bids farewell to his father; in the next, he eviscerates a fish (heart, brain and gall) at the Archangel's suggestion with the purpose of obtaining medicines from it; in the last, he returns to his father with his young wife and cures his adored parent from blindness with medicines obtained from the fish. Caroto's intervention extends into the vault of the chapel where sumptuous ornamentation remains, and in the center of the four segments are placed four roundels with busts of the evangelists. Giovan Francesco was also the author of the chapel's
altarpiece, now preserved at the
Castelvecchio Civic Museum and replaced on site by a 1934 copy by Gaetano Miolato, in which in the central
triptych the painter intended to depict the Three Archangels (Michael, Raphael, Gabriel). The attribution of this work is certain and the author signed it with “F. CAROTUS P.,” whereas the attribution of two doors of the triptych, still preserved in the chapel, is more uncertain, which some critics instead would assign to his brother Giovanni Caroto. On them are depicted Saint Apollonia and Saint Lucia. On the pilaster that separates the apse from the span of the chapel, the bas-relief with the coat of arms commemorating the marriage between
Jacopo Dal Verme and Cia degli Ubaldini are from the early 15th century. The flooring of the chapel is composed of tombstones of local noble families, placed in this historic corner following a modernization in the 20th century of the church.
Left apse (or chapel of Saint Rita) The chapel of St. Rita, whose construction began in 1379, is located at the end of the left aisle and next to the presbytery occupying the minor west apse of the church. It is also known as the Chapel of St. Augustine because its interior contains the famous fresco Glory of St. Augustine by
Stefano da Verona, which was detached in 1958 from its previous location outside the church, above the portal on the eastern side. Mentioned with admiration by
Giorgio Vasari, the fresco, which bears the author's signature “STEFANUS / PINXIT,” is now in a poor condition that only hints at the chromatic richness it could have boasted.
Sacristy On the left wall of the cross vault opens a door through which one enters, after walking down a short corridor, the church sacristy. This is housed in a room whose construction dates back to the first decades of the 16th century; part of the flooring, the one in the center of the room, is still the original one as is the altar. The latter consists of a complex of marbles of different shades of gray and red alternating with some white ones. Initially it was also decorated with three bronze panels carved by
Andrea Riccio in which he had depicted a Nativity, a Deposition and a Resurrection, now replaced by wooden copies since the originals were looted at the end of the 18th century by the French army during the Napoleonic occupation, when the abbey was turned into a military hospital. There is also a wooden
antependium on the altar, a 17th-century work, on which figures of cherubs supporting festoons of fruit and leaves are carved, while in the center is a long inscription recalling the work of the priors who were responsible for furnishing the sacristy. Of particular note is the elegant furniture of the sacristy composed of two cabinets placed on either side of the altar, decorated with a complex
finial and made at the behest of
prior Egidio Morosini in 1629, shortly before the outbreak of the
plague of 1630 that scourged the city of Verona and the monastery. On the left is a small washbasin made of
red Verona marble dating from the 15th century, decorated with a beautifully crafted relief. Above the door that connects the sacristy to the church is a plaque on which, inside an oval, the face of the man of letters Luigi Gaiter is depicted. On the right wall is a canvas, depicting a Saint Nicholas of Tolentino, attributed to
Domenico Brusasorzi, which is followed by a Virgin and Child with Saints Catherine and Lucy by an unknown author, who was active between the 16th and 17th centuries. On the left wall is a canvas, also by Domenico Brusasorzi, who painted a St. Augustine and an 18th-century Our Lady of Good Counsel whose author is unknown. Until the end of the 19th century, four canvases by the painter Dionisio Guerri also hung on the walls, whose fate, except for the Baptism of St. Augustine now in the
Castelvecchio Museum, is unknown. == Monastery ==