Verona: Arch of the coast ...

Jun 16, 2022by MM Independent

The arch of the coast, located in via della Costa between Piazza delle Erbe and Piazza dei Signori, It is a passage that connects the palace of the Region with the Domus Nova. This catwalk was used to lead the magistrates by their residence to the city court, thus avoiding passing through the city streets where they could have been corrupt by malicious people during the judgment of the processes that followed.

To this interesting connection, the charm of the presence of a bone hanging in its central keystone should be added whose origin is not certain.

Its location seems to trace between the beginning of the 1600s and the mid -1700s and there are numerous hypotheses linked to it ...

Some think may be the fossil of a marine reptile called ichthyosaur Found on the Lessini mountains and then hung on the arch according to the protection of the city of Verona.

Another assumption is that the bone is a "rib of the devil", a relic recovered by the crusaders during the battle of Lepanto against the Turks in 1571.

In reality, the most probable hypothesis identifies it as a whale rib hanging from a space shop (the pharmacy of our day) as teaches to attract customers. Balena bone powder was in fact used in time medicine to cure.

Legend has it that the bone will fall only when a pure and honest person person will pass under the arch ...

We thank the following sources for the information collected and we invite you to a further curious study:

https://www.visitverona.it/it/luoghi/arco-della-costa

https://ilbassoadige.it/2021/04/07/verona-larco-della-costa-e-il-mistero-della-costola-di-balena/