Construction on the lazzaretto of Verona, attributed almost unanimously to Sammicheli, began in 1549 and was competed in 1628, just two years before the plague of 1630. It stands in Porto San Pancrazio outside the city walls, in a large bay of the Adige river.
The original building had a rectangular layout with 152 cells along the sides (which measured almost 240x117m). In the centre of the courtyard, a small round temple with a double row of columns stood on three rows of steps.
The lazzaretto was used to isolate and nurse patients suffering from infectious diseases until the 1700s. In the centuries that followed it was used store armaments and explosives.
Used for this purpose from the time of Austrian domination to the end of WWII, this actually caused its destruction when a fierce fire broke out on 20 May 1945. In 1960 the small temple was partially rebuilt in its present form.
Fondazione Veneto Film Commission
Via Carducci, 32 – 30171 Venezia Mestre
Phone: +39 041 279 43 38
Email: info@venetofilmcommission.com
