Arco delle Scalette

The Arco delle Scalette marks the historic stairway associated with pilgrimage to Monte Berico in Vicenza. Built in 1595, the single-opening arch combines classical architectural forms with religious and civic sculpture.

Why it matters

The arch belongs to the devotional landscape that developed around the sanctuary before the later eighteenth-century porticoes. Its inscription records both the building year and the patron, the Venetian captain Giacomo Bragadino.

What to notice

Pairs of Corinthian engaged columns frame the opening beneath a tripartite attic. Saints Leontius and Carpophorus flank the Lion of Saint Mark above, in a sculptural group associated with Francesco and Giambattista Albanese. Beneath the vault, Orazio Marinali's Angel and Virgin form an Annunciation group.

Context and history

The design has been linked to a Palladian drawing of the 1570s, although the attribution remains debated and construction followed Palladio's death. Later street changes altered the relationship between arch and stairway. Severe damage in an air raid in 1944 led to extensive reconstruction using surviving material.