t Giotto’s frescoes covering the walls of the Scrovegni Chapel
Enrico Scrovegni built this chapel in 1303, hoping thereby to spare his dead father, a usurer, from the eternal damnation in hell described by the poet Dante in his Inferno. The interior of the chapel is covered with beautiful frescoes of scenes from the life of Christ, painted by Giotto between 1303 and 1305. As works of great narrative force, they exerted a powerful influence on the development of European art.
The Florentine artist Giotto (1266–1337) is regarded as the father of the Renaissance, the great revival in the Classical traditions of Western art. His frescoes in this chapel – with their sense of pictorial space, naturalism and narrative drama – mark a decisive break with the Byzantine tradition of the preceding 1,000 years. In such scenes as Lament over the Dead Christ figures are naturalistic and three-dimensional, not stylized, and emotions are clearly expressed. Although Giotto was considered a great artist in his lifetime, few of the works attributed to him are fully documented. The frescoes in the Scrovegni Chapel are rare exceptions where his authorship is in no doubt.
t Giotto’s frescoes covering the walls of the Scrovegni Chapel
Experience The Veneto and Friuli
t Exterior of the Cappella degli Scrovegni
It is compulsory to book your visit on the website in advance as there are strict limits on the number of visitors allowed in to the Scrovegni Chapel at any one time. Before entering, visitors must spend 15 minutes in a decontamination chamber, where an explanatory film on the chapel and its famous frescoes is provided. The visit itself is restricted to 15 minutes.