The Church of Sant’Elena

The rectangular apse has an altarpiece painted in the sixteenth century by Felice Brusasorzi, depicting the Madonna enthroned with the Child and Saints Stephen, Zeno, George and Helena. The latter, adorned in regal robes, holds the cross in her hands. Leaning against the walls, a mighty walnut choir, carved with rampant lions and plant motifs, frames the space, highlighting its rich historical layering and the walls below. The church of Sant’Elena belongs to the Chapter of Canons, priests who still collaborate with the bishop in the Cathedral and who originally were responsible for the training and education of the young clergy. They are credited with promoting and fostering the activities of the ancient Scriptorium over a period of fifteen centuries; in modern times, this has become the Capitolare Library, which is now the oldest library in the world, continuously active since AD 517. This unique feature further highlights the value of this place, which at the time was the epicentre of a new fervent culture that was forming and attracting great scholars and illustrious writers. It was here that figures such as Dante and Petrarch came to study the ancient codices and texts the library contained. The church of Sant’Elena itself records the presence of Dante: he was here in 1320 to read out his Questio de aqua et terra, a dissertation on why our planet is composed of water and land, and on the mechanisms behind this phenomenon. The Scaligeri family, who ruled Verona for almost a century between the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries, hosted Dante several times during his exile from Florence, and the city continued to be the home of the Alighieri family in the centuries that followed.