Description
The Arco Valaresso is a small triumphal arch on the north side of Piazza del Duomo in Padua: a thank-you in stone to the Venetian captain who led the city out of the plague of 1631-1632.
Built in 1632 to a design attributed to Giovan Battista della Scala, the arch rests on four Doric columns set on tall pedestals. Beyond it opens the quiet Corte Arco Valaresso.
Along the top runs the long Latin inscription dedicated to Alvise Valaresso. It tells how the captain searched every place where there was even a suspicion of contagion, until he put out the outbreaks that kept flaring up again.
Valaresso, captain of Padua from July 1631 to December 1632, had already fought the plague around Verona. Besides the harsh health measures, he put the city's finances back in order, drained by the drop in taxes collected. The grateful magistrates of Padua called the monument "modest."
Built in 1632 to a design attributed to Giovan Battista della Scala, the arch rests on four Doric columns set on tall pedestals. Beyond it opens the quiet Corte Arco Valaresso.
Along the top runs the long Latin inscription dedicated to Alvise Valaresso. It tells how the captain searched every place where there was even a suspicion of contagion, until he put out the outbreaks that kept flaring up again.
Valaresso, captain of Padua from July 1631 to December 1632, had already fought the plague around Verona. Besides the harsh health measures, he put the city's finances back in order, drained by the drop in taxes collected. The grateful magistrates of Padua called the monument "modest."