The church of San Fermo miraculously survived the bombings of World War II. It is said that some Veronese citizens climbed onto the roof to remove the burning embers that could have set fire to the marvellous wooden ceiling.
An information panel in the right nave describes this event. The church is 52 metres long and up to 18 metres wide; it is unique in its kind, designed by the Franciscans in 1314 and completed in 1350. To build it, red larch trunks were transported from Trentino along the Adige River. Shaped like an upturned ship’s hull, the ceiling holds one of the world’s largest fourteenth-century portrait galleries: 416 saints painted in tempera on wood, attributed to the school of the Master of the Redeemer. A purple fresco frieze with plant motifs and images of saints frames the ceiling along both naves. On the wall above is a fresco depicting Angels Praising God with scrolls by Stefano da Zevio, a well-known late Gothic painter.
