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. Its origin can be traced to around the 7th century when an early, simple monastic building that was built in the Lombard era was erected at the foot of the overlooking Mount Castiglione. Part of this shrine, originally dedicated to St. Michael the Archangel, still survives with its frescoes and mosaic floors. It was probably a martyrion dedicated to the veneration of the relics of Saints Nazarius and Celsus. Next to this first building was a church built by the monks during the Lombard rule, perhaps in the Romanesque style, of which nothing remains today except evidence of its existence in the Versus de Verona (late 8th century) and in the Raterian iconography (first half of the 10th century). The first archival mention of the attached monastic community dates from a document of 1035, while later sources report a developing monastery thanks to some beneficia. With a diploma of May 24, 1111, it came under the direct protection of Emperor Henry V in a true vassal-like relationship. 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. With the subsequent advent of the Scaligeri, the monastery regained its properties but was prevented from reasserting its former political power. 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. In 1767 the Benedictine monastery was suppressed and the property acquired by the Venetian Republic, only to be partly handed over four years later to the Benedictine nuns of San Daniele, who made some restorations. Napoleon's edict of 1810 permanently dissolved the monastery, which was demolished to make way for the church. The present building was constructed in a mixture of Gothic and Renaissance styles. The portal, set in a simple facade, is reached by crossing the parvis, enclosed by a high wall that separates it from the street. The interior is divided into three aisles, leading to a transept that stands between the nave and the chancel. 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. The presbytery vault and the apsidal basin were frescoed by Paolo Farinati, who also created the two canvases placed on either side of the choir. At the end of the right arm of the transept is the Chapel of St. Blaise, completed in 1508 to house the relics of the martyrs St. Blaise and St. Juliana, who were brought there in 1174. The chapel is richly decorated with a pictorial cycle on which Falconetto, Domenico and Francesco Morone, Paolo Morando, Bartolomeo Montagna, Francesco Bonsignori, Girolamo dai Libri, and Moretto, among others, worked.
History
Origin: the martyrion of St. Michael
The present building dates from the 15th century but is only the latest in a series of religious buildings that followed one another over the centuries. The origin of the church of Saints Nazarius and Celsus is very ancient and can be traced back to the construction of an early, simple building at the foot of Mount Castiglione, in whose tuff the apse was excavated, and originally dedicated to St. Michael the Archangel. It was probably a martyrion dedicated to the veneration of the relics of Saints Nazarius and Celsus and dating from the early Christian era, between the 6th and 7th centuries, at the dawn of Christianity. In addition to the apse, this building consisted of a dark cruciform masonry hallway with a transept and barrel-vaulted roof. The walls were decorated with cycles of frescoes in overlapping layers from various periods, some of which were detached in 1881 and moved to the former church of San Francesco al Corso at the Giovanni Battista Cavalcaselle Fresco Museum, while parts of the mosaic floors remain in place. A rudimentary monastery must have stood next to this martyrion. 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. Cipolla deduces this thanks to an inscription from 996 found on the site and now lost, which read, "ANN. AB INCARNC dNi NRI DCCCCXCVI. INDIC X.” However, the two layers of plaster found suggest that additional ones were added to the early ancient frescoes that can be dated around 1180.
Late medieval period: early Romanesque building
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