Separating Piazza delle Erbe from Piazza dei Signori is the Arco della Costa (Costa's Arch), beneath which is suspended a whale's rib. Legend says it will fall on the first "just" person to walk beneath.In several centuries, it has never fallen, not even on the various popes who have paraded beneath it. In Piazza dei Signori, the 15th Century Loggia del Consiglio, the former city council building, is regarded as Verona's first Renaissance structure. It is attached to the Palazzo degli Scaligeri, once the main residence of della Scala family. A smaller arch links the Palazzo del Capitano, another Scaligeri palace, to the Palazzo del Comune: through the arch you enter the Old Market Yard (Cortile Mercato Vecchio), where the two-flight gothic stairs (Scala della Ragione) is well worth seeing. Back to Piazza dei Signori, at the far end, are the Arche Scaligere, the impressive Scaligeri graves erected on the grounds od St.Maria Antica's church.
Ponte Pietra : the bridge was erected in the 1st century A.D. and restored by the Scaligery family; destroyed during the Second World War, it was then rebuilt partly using the original material. On the other side of the bridge you can admire another masterpiece of Roman architecture, the Teatro Romano (Roman Theatre), dating back to the 1st Century B.C. The remains of the theatre were discovered in the IXI Century buried beneath some civil and religious buildings. What you can see now, after a thorough restoration, is only a part of the original building, which included, apart from the steps, a beautifully architectured stage-set by the river. The theatre it is still used today, during summer, for concerts and plays. On a hill high behind the theatre is the Castel San Pietro, built by the Austrians onthe site of an earlier castle. From here you can enjoy a beautiful view of Verona.
 

Walking back towards Piazza delle Erbe along Corso S.Anastasia and then further on along Corso Porta Borsari you can see Porta Borsari (the Borsari Gate) in the background. Jupiter's Gate (Porta di Giove) was the original name of this gate, which together with Porta dei Leoni (the Lions' Gate) were the main entrances to the Roman city. Roman gates were actual buildings with a central courtyard; the stone facing of the façade is all that remains today of the original building. The later name "Borsari" comes from the latin "bursarii", i.e. the excise men who used to work here.

 

Basilica di San Zeno Maggiore (St.Zeno's Church) is one of the most beautiful and most important churches in Italy and a masterpiece of Romanesque architecture. This church  in honour of the city's patron saint was built mainly in the 12th Century, although its apse was rebuilt in the 14th Century and its bell tower, a relic of an earlier structure on the site, was started in 1045. The portal, clad with bronze panels, is a masterpiece of medieval European sculpture: it is made up of 48 panels representing scenes from the Old and New Testament and episodes from St.Zeno's life. The highlight inside is Mantegna's triptych of the "Madonna and Saints", above the high altar.