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Scaliger Tombs
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Passing under the arch linking the Palazzo degli Scaligeri to
the Palazzo del Capitano, you come to the little Romanesque
church of Santa Maria Antica, in front of which are ranged the
Arche Scaligeri , some of the most elaborate Gothic funerary
monuments in Italy. Over the side entrance to the church, an
equestrian statue of Cangrande I ("Big Dog"; d.1329) gawps down
from his tomb's pyramidal roof; the statue is a copy, the
original being displayed in the Castelvecchio . The canopied
tombs of the rest of the clan are enclosed within a wrought-iron
palisade decorated with ladder motifs, the emblem of the
Scaligers - the family name was della Scala, "scala" meaning
ladder. Mastino I ("Mastiff"; d.1277), founder of the dynasty,
is buried in the simple tomb against the wall of the church;
Mastino II (d.1351) is to the left of the entrance, opposite the
most florid of the tombs, that of Cansignorio ("Top Dog"; d.1375).
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