VERONA: ARCO DELLA COSTA…

The Arco della Costa, located on Via della Costa between Piazza delle Erbe and Piazza dei Signori,isa passageway connecting the Regional Government Building with the Domus Nova. This walkway was used to escort magistrates from their residence to the city court, thus avoiding the city streets where they might have been bribed by malicious individuals during the sentencing phase of the trials that followed.

In addition to this intriguing connection, there is the intrigue of a bone hanging from its central keystone, the origin of which is uncertain.

It appears to date from between the early 1600s and the mid-1700s, and there are numerous theories surrounding it…

 

Some believe it may be the fossil of a marine reptile called an ichthyosaur, found in the Lessini Mountains and later hung on the arch to protect the city of Verona.

Another theory is that the bone is a“devil’s rib,”a relic recovered by the Crusaders during the Battle of Lepanto against the Turks in 1571.

In fact, the most likely theory identifies it as a whale bone hanging from an apothecary’s shop (the equivalent of a modern-day pharmacy) as a sign to attract customers. Whale bone powder was, in fact, used in medicine at the time to treat various ailments.

 

Legend has it that the bone will fall only when a pure-hearted and honest person passes under the arch…

 

 

We would like to thank the following sources for the information provided and invite you to explore the topic further:

 

 

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Photo credits:

 

Close-up photo of the arch

Son of Groucho from Scotland, CC BY 2.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0>, via Wikimedia Commons

 

Photo of an arch

Dimitris Kamaras from Athens, Greece, CC BY 2.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0>, via Wikimedia Commons

 

Photo: Via della Costa

lienyuan lee, CC BY 3.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0>, via Wikimedia Commons

 

Photos of Verona

Photo 49273645 © / Dreamstime.com