Basilica of San Zeno, Verona

According to legend, at a site above his tomb along the Via Gallica, the first small church was erected by Theodoric the Great, king of the Ostrogoths.

Erection of the present basilica and associated monastery began in the 9th century, when Bishop Ratoldus and King Pepin of Italy attended the translation of the saint's relics into the new church.

This edifice was damaged or destroyed by a Magyar invasion in the early 10th-century, at which time Zeno's body was moved to the Cathedral of Santa Maria Matricolare: on May 21, 921, it was returned to its original site in the crypt of the present church.

Built of cream-coloured tuff, the façade is divided into three vertical components, the central nave surmounted by a pediment and the two aisle with sloping rooflines, all supported upon small pendanted blind arcades.

The internal and external mensulae around the arch of the porch show the cycle of the months, which relate to the Wheel of Fortune of the window above.

The sculptures associated with the porch, the portal itself, and those set into the wall to the right, depicting scenes from the Old Testament and the Flight of Theodoric, are the work of the sculptor Nicholaus and his workshop.

The New Testament scenes and other historical subjects to the left of the porch are by a member of Nicholaus's workshop named Gugliemus.

Their signature inscriptions are located over the lunette, in the background of "The Creation of Man" and on the cornice above the sculptures on the left.

The identities of all the figures portrayed is not known: they include Saints Peter; Paul; Zeno; Helena; Matilda of Canossa (who had patronized the abbey); and her husband Godfrey, as well as the unknown sculptor of the work.

It is divided in floors by cornices and small tuff arches, and rises to a double-storied bell chamber with triple mullioned windows.

On the entrance arches, the local sculptor Adamino da San Giorgio sculpted fanciful and monstrous animals.

The aisles are divided by cruciform pilasters with alternating capitals with zoomorphic motifs and of Corinthian style.

Artworks in the central church include a Crucifix by Lorenzo Veneziano, a porphyry cup taken from a Roman bath-house, the octagonal baptismal font of the 13th-century, an altarpiece by Francesco Torbido and a 13th-century fresco of St Christopher.

It houses frescoes of various ages, including a Last Supper and St Blaise healing the Sick by Giorgio Anselmi.