Tomba di Giulietta e Museo degli Affreschi G.B. Cavalcaselle

The former convent of San Francesco al Corso houses Juliet's Tomb and the G.B. Cavalcaselle Fresco Museum, bringing together a literary tradition and rescued Veronese wall paintings.

Why it matters

The red marble sarcophagus in the former convent is traditionally believed to be Juliet's tomb; the city traces this belief to the sixteenth century. By the early nineteenth century, visitors had chipped away fragments as relics. The museum's frescoes, removed from palaces and churches between the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, preserve paintings that might otherwise have been lost with the buildings.

What to notice

The collection includes statues of the Virtues and of Verona and Vicenza, once part of the Scaliger tomb enclosure. Fresco galleries preserve cycles from Veronese buildings, including the Sala delle Muse cycle from Palazzo Guarienti ai Filippini. The sarcophagus is displayed in a chapel with a marble bust of Shakespeare added by Renato Cattani in 1910. Its damaged surface records the history of the tomb legend.

Context and history

The Franciscan convent was built in 1230 and partly rebuilt after an explosion in 1624. The tomb tradition was recorded by Girolamo dalla Corte in the sixteenth century. In 1868 the Congregation of Charity built a chapel for the damaged sarcophagus; in 1938, superintendent Antonio Avena arranged its move to its present position. The building was restored in the 1960s and designated as a museum in 1973, housing the collection associated with art historian Giovanni Battista Cavalcaselle.