San Sebastiano

Built in 1505 by Scarpagnino to thank St Sebastian for delivering the city from the plague of 1464, this was the parish church of Veronese, who lived around the corner and according to legend, was given sanctuary here after murdering a rival over an affair of the heart.

Thanks to its prior, who was also from Verona, he was given the chance early in his career to decorate it, which he did from 1555 to 1560 and in the 1570s, managing to create a thematically unified interior – and, this being Veronese, one that blurs the boundaries of art and reality.

The ceiling, which Veronese painted after his first work in the sacristy, depicts the story of Esther in three panels: The Repudiation of Vashti, Esther Crowned by Ahasuerus and The Triumph of the Mordecai. The unusual Old Testament themes were used for their symbolic reference to the Virgin Mary. Vashti was the repudiated queen of Persia (Eve), Esther a Jewish girl chosen as the new queen (Mary), who helped to free her cousin Mordecai and his followers (redeeming mankind).