The Church of Saints Nazarius and Celsus (Italian: Chiesa dei Santi Nazaro e Celso) is a Catholic place of worship in Verona located in the Veronetta district, on the road leading to Porta Vescovo.

In the 13th century Ezzelino III da Romano, who had recently arrived in Verona, stripped the community of monks of their vast possessions and exiled the abbot, as he was concerned about his growing power and aversion.

After more than a century of decline, in 1444 Pope Eugene IV arranged for the Benedictine community of Verona to be united with the wealthier abbey of Santa Giustina in Padua: this gave the monks a new impetus that enabled them in 1464 to demolish the earlier Romanesque church and begin construction of the present building, the consecration of which took place on January 19, 1483.

On the side of each aisle are five altars, each of which is enriched by the presence of an altarpiece surmounted by a lunette, painted by famous Veronese painters, including Antonio Badile, Orlando Flacco, Battista del Moro, and Domenico Brusasorzi.

[4] According to reconstructions by Carlo Cipolla, this sacellum (also referred to by some as a "grotto" or "chapel") was deeply damaged by the Hungarian invasions and in particular during the one of 933, only to be restored at the behest of the bishop of Verona Otberto, who also sponsored the creation of the frescoes.

[6] In all likelihood this church was to be set on a traditional five-nave basilica plan and was to respect the characteristics of Romanesque architecture, but nothing more is known,[7] just as nothing is known about the establishment of the Benedictine community on the site.

[8] The first known mention of the existence of the Benedictine monastic community attached to the church, in fact, dates back to a document of 1035 in which it is stated that the abbot at that time was the aforementioned Mauro.

Subsequent sources report of a monastery that was clearly growing thanks to the attribution of a number of beneficia in the province[note 1] granted by the bishops who succeeded one another at the head of the Veronese diocese.

[10] At that time the monastery possessed a hostel and a hospital, in which a German baron named Boniface, part of Emperor Frederick Barbarossa's retinue in what would go down in history as the Third Crusade, was housed on December 3, 1174.

[10][11][12] By the next century, the monastery had acquired such wealth and power that it led Ezzelino III da Romano, who had recently arrived in Verona, to order the exile of Abbot Bonifacio, who was considered politically adverse, and to confiscate the abbey's vast possessions.

In 1444 Pope Eugene IV ordered that the monastery of Saints Nazarius and Celsus be united with the prestigious abbey of Santa Giustina in Padua, which enjoyed far greater fortunes.

The opening for worship took place on January 19, 1483 in the presence of Abbot Gianfrancesco, Archbishop Marco Cattaneo of Durrës, vicar of the Verona bishop, and Cardinal Giovanni Michiel, who proceeded with the consecration.

The chapel, in the Renaissance style and located at the end of the left arm of the transept, was completed twenty years later, and on April 24, 1508, the sacred relics were moved there.

[18] In addition to these important events related to the building, in the same years the monastery was able to benefit from new benefits: on April 2, 1498 Pope Alexander VI gave it the jurisdiction of the Benedictine abbey of Badia Calavena; Bishop Marco Corner granted it the title of parish with a baptismal font; and finally Pope Paul IV subjected it to the parish of Santa Maria di Tregnago.

[20][21] The newfound economic prosperity allowed the monastery to build the present bell tower,[22] to make some interventions in the interior and to commission the painter Paolo Veronese to paint The Feast in the House of Simon the Pharisee, to be placed in the refectory (now exhibited in the Savoy Gallery).

This is enclosed by a high wall marked by pilasters, which is accessed through a wide and original 1688 Renaissance-style portal, composed of four twin columns resting on square bases.

[11][32] Below it there is a neo-Gothic style portal enclosed in a slightly splayed pointed arch and supported by imposts consisting of twisted columns juxtaposed with smooth pillars, ending in capitals on which floral motifs are carved.

Between the portal and the apex of the arch is a frescoed lunette, now a damaged work by Paolo Ligozzi, in which he depicted the Blessed Virgin and Child and on either side Saints Nazarius and Celsus.

[44][45] The painter Giulio Carpioni, on the other hand, is the artist of the altarpiece of the third altar, in which St. Maurus healing the sick is depicted, while the execution of the lunette was entrusted to Battista del Moro, who frescoed a St. Francis receiving the stigmata.

[46][47] The fourth altar is adorned with an altarpiece, Christ Crucified, painted in 1560 by Orlando Flacco, in which the skillful use of chiaroscuro to emphasize the dramatic aspect of the scene stands out.

[48][49] Finally, the altarpiece that adorns the fifth altar, depicting Blessed Virgin and Child with Saints Peter, Paul and Margaret, is a fine work by the Veronese painter Domenico Brusasorzi, which can be dated between 1547 and 1548.

India also made the oil painting and almost monochrome (with whitish and light yellow tones), Transfiguration of Christ, for the lunette,[38] while the decorations of the sub-arches may be attributable to the workshop of Paolo Farinati.

The same artist also chose to depict Adam and Eve banished from the Earthly Paradise in the lunette, which is considered one of Farinati's best works and whose preparatory drawing is now preserved in the royal collections of Windsor Castle.

[57] The Mannerist altarpiece of the fourth altar is a Christ Presented to the People (or Ecce Homo), a work by painter Orlando Flacco dating from 1560, in which compositional elements, such as the architectural setting of the background and the two figures of soldiers, denote a clear inspiration from the style of Paolo Veronese.

[58][59] On the fifth and last altar is the altarpiece Holy Family in Glory, on the lower sides Saints Anthony of Padua and Francis made by Giovanni Caliari around the first half of the 19th century.

One of them, placed to the left of the door leading to the sacristy, commemorates the consecration of the church in 1484, while the one on the right attests to the translation of the relics of Saints Blaise and Juliana to the new chapel in 1466.

Originally above the Baroque altar there was an altarpiece depicting Christ with the apostles by Antonio Balestra, now moved to the nearby chapel of the Gaio family; a statue of the Blessed Virgin of Lourdes now stands in its place.

Work on its construction, intended to house the relics of St. Blaise and St. Juliana, began in 1488 on a project by Beltrame di Valsolda, who was also commissioned to direct the building site.

Flooring work was completed in the following years, carried out by workers employed by Pietro and Gabriele Caliari, respectively grandfather and father of the painter Paolo Veronese.

The most interesting piece of furniture is the large cabinet located at the back of the sacristy, which adorns the altar and in which two inscriptions are engraved: “RELIQVIAE SANCTORVM and ANNO DNI .