Palazzo Barbieri - Comune di Verona

This guide to Palazzo Barbieri, Verona's town hall on Piazza Bra, opens on the night of February 23, 1945, when the building endured the worst ordeal of its history. It traces back to 1835, when the Habsburg rulers who commissioned architect Giuseppe Barbieri's neoclassical Corinthian colonnade meant the palace for one purpose, only for its actual use to take an unexpected turn. You'll hear how a whole neighborhood was cleared to make way for it, and how ownership of the building shifted in the decades that followed. Look up at the pediment facing the Roman arena as you listen.