St. Mary the Greater in Gazzo
Saint Mary the Greater in Gazzo Veronese: facade and apses in 1963
New pictures, see below!
Gazzo, situated in the Roman age along the "Claudia Augusta" road from Ostiglia to Verona through the Tartaro river derives its name from a longobard term that means " forest ".
This center, thriving during the imperial age, was becoming more and more depopulated after the fall of the empire; little by little the swamps advanced, until the Benedictines, in the high middle-age, began the reclamation work.
The current church, dedicated to St. Mary, rises over a mosaic pavement that perhaps belonged to a previous church, maybe the first church risen in this place.
The restorations, executed between 1938 and the 1940, put in light this mosaic pertaining to the high Middle Age and that is one of the more interesting examples of the high middle-age art. Putting this argument apart - it would involve long examination of the pre-Romanesque architecture and painting - let's examine shortly the current church.
According to the hypothesis made by Da Lisca(18) and by Arslan (19) the building would have been founded in the middle of the XII cent. or so; it is made by three naves divided by from columns with cubical shaped capital made by cooked; the facade is salients-shaped and puts in relief by outside the division in three naves of the church.
The building is covered by a support roof and is closed by three apses; in the external part the flanks are richly decorated by pilasters and hanging little arches.
The three-parts facade remembers the typical structure of many churches of the Verona region but, in our building, you can find also elements strangers to the "veronese" art who make the dating more difficult. Typically veronese is the plant in three naves without transept; Lombardic, by the contrary, are the supports and especially the cooked capitals. The wide rhythm of the arches remembers by very near, in the inside, Saint Salvaro in Legnago.
In the absidale part only the central apse is original; as a matter of fact the northern one was incorporated in the XV century bell tower, the southern one was rebuilt in 1940 imitating the cental one.
The facade has a typically "veronese" aspect; it is
all in lateritious, scattered, here and here, with some marble
crocks. The recent restorations brought the church to the
primitive originality and simplicity. Along the droopings of the
facade you can notice hanging arches in cooked that hold the
place of the customary decoration in "teeth of
saw"; they are every now and then interrupted by some
made in marble, too: decoration, this, much rare in the veronese
architecture and much common in the "ravennate" and
"emiliana" architecture .
Once again we find reasons of affinity between Gazzo and San
Salvaro in Legnago; also in the church of Saint Mary, we find
again, as a matter of fact, that amplitude of breath that we
noticed in Saint Salvaro and that we can make go back to the
ravennate influence. The two localities are near the extreme
limit of the Verona province and were, logically, much more
opened to emiliano-ravennate influence.
Notes:
(18) A. DA LISCA, "La chiesa di
Santa Maria Maggiore al Gazzo Veronese", Verona, 1941.
(19) ARSLAN WART, Op. Cit.
Where is this church? (zoomable map from Mapquest)
New picture taken on 1.1.2000
Many thanks to don Romeo, Parish Priest of Santa Maria Maggiore...
The following pictures were taken and kindly offered by Don Romeo
