Sant'Anastasia, Verona

Verona's largest church, the Basilica of Sant'Anastasia is the city's finest Gothic building, begun by the Dominicans in 1290 and worked on for nearly two centuries afterward. Its towering brick nave rises near the bend of the Adige, and though its ornate facade was never fully completed, the interior is among the most impressive to be found anywhere in the Veneto region.

The soaring space is carried on tall columns of red Verona marble, their capitals richly carved with foliage, leading the eye toward frescoed chapels and a lofty vaulted ceiling patterned in delicate colour. Just inside the doors, two holy-water stoups rest on the hunched backs of crouching figures, the gobbi or hunchbacks, folk carvings that have become an affectionate emblem of the church and a favourite curiosity with visitors.

Its great artistic treasure hangs in the Pellegrini Chapel: Pisanello's fresco of Saint George and the Princess, painted around 1435, a courtly masterpiece of the International Gothic style filled with horses, elegant knights and a distant fairy-tale city on the horizon. Other chapels hold Renaissance altarpieces, glazed terracotta reliefs and the tombs of prominent Veronese families, making the church a gallery of the city's late-medieval art.

For visitors, Sant'Anastasia stands in the old town near the Ponte Pietra and the Scaliger tombs, a short walk from Piazza delle Erbe. A modest ticket, often shared with other Verona churches, admits visitors, and modest dress is required. Mornings are quietest and the light falling through the high windows is best earlier in the day. Spring and early autumn suit exploring the surrounding lanes and riverbanks on foot, when the historic centre and its cafe-lined squares are at their most pleasant and the crowds noticeably thinner.