Walking along Corso Cavour, one of Verona's most elegant historic streets, it is impossible not to stop in front of Palazzo Bevilacqua. Its imposing façade, entirely clad in stone worked with meticulous precision, catches the eye even of those who are not architecture experts. Today the seat of a school, this building tells five centuries of Veronese history: of powerful families, of ambitions never fully realised, and of art that has managed to survive plundering and the passage of time.
Construction dates back to the first half of the sixteenth century and was commissioned by the Bevilacqua family, one of the city's most influential houses. Their origins lay in the timber trade, but over the centuries they had earned a leading role in the political and social life of Verona. When their neighbours, the Canossa family, began to erect a monumental palace not far away, the Bevilacqua decided to respond with an equally ambitious project, entrusting it to the most celebrated Veronese architect of the time: Michele Sanmicheli.
Michele Sanmicheli and the unfinished project
Sanmicheli was no stranger to grand projects. Trained between Rome and Orvieto, he had absorbed the lessons of Bramante and Raphael, and on his return to Verona he had already signed some of the most significant architectural works in the city. For the Bevilacqua family he envisioned a palace much larger than the one we see today: two symmetrical wings, two pincer staircases, a façade almost twice the size of the current one. The project, however, was never completed. Between changes of ownership, excessive expenses and family events, the work was halted after only the first lot had been built.
And yet, even so, the result is extraordinary. The façade stretching out before us — even if "halved" compared to the original intentions — is one of the finest examples of Renaissance architecture in the Veneto. You can tell from the details: the asymmetrical position of the entrance portal, the balustrade that breaks off abruptly, the capitals and cornices that seem to be waiting for something that never arrived.
The façade is divided into two superimposed orders: the lower one, more massive and rusticated, is marked by alternating kneeling windows and arched bays. The upper one, more slender and elegant, is animated by large arched windows separated by half-columns with Corinthian capitals, some fluted vertically, others spiralled. Crowning it all, a richly decorated cornice with tritons, acanthus scrolls and the family emblem — an eagle's wing — proudly displayed on the frieze. The busts of Roman emperors on the keystones, the griffins supporting the windowsills, the lions' heads on the upper arches: every element speaks of power, nobility and ambition.
The materials used underline this refinement: Quinzano tuff and Avesa stone face the main surfaces, while the base plinth is in Prun stone. All hand-worked, all designed to last.
A history of art, collecting and dispersion
In addition to being a residence, Palazzo Bevilacqua was also an important cultural centre. Mario Bevilacqua, son of the original patron, was a passionate collector: in the upper loggia of the palace he hosted a gallery of ancient sculptures and a "musical reduit", a kind of salon avant la lettre where the Veronese intellectual elite gathered.
Little of that collection remains in the city today. The sculptures, after various vicissitudes, were eventually purchased in 1811 by Ludwig I of Bavaria and are now kept in the Munich Glyptothek. The paintings suffered a similar fate: among the works that once decorated the halls of the palace were masterpieces by Tintoretto, Paolo Veronese and Giovan Francesco Caroto, most of which were carried off during the Napoleonic plundering of 1797 and transported to Paris. Some are still at the Louvre; one, Veronese's Portrait of a Noblewoman, has even disappeared.
In 1899 the last descendant of the family, Duchess Felicita Bevilacqua, left the building to the Comune di Verona with the wish that it become a place of culture. Since 1905 it has been the seat of a school, a function it still retains today.
Would you like to know more about these architectural beauties of Verona? Then take a look at our piece on Palazzo Barbieri.