Church of San Zeno
Church of San Zeno is a small jewel of the VIII-IX century and is located behind what was the fortified historic center of Bardolino.
Church of San Zeno it is a building already existing in the ninth century, it is mentioned for the first time in a document of 807 in which King Pipino and Ratoldo bishop of Verona delegate and confirm to the church of San Zeno Maggiore di Verona some goods, including those of the church of San Zeno of Bardolino: “nec non et in alio loco qui vocatur Bardolinusin fine gardensi”. Assets also confirmed later by Charlemagne in 853, by Ludwig II, Henry II in 1014, Frederick I in 1163 and others. The church was well followed by chaplains directly dependent on the abbot of San Zeno of Verona until the thirteenth century, from that time on the other hand the building began to be left in abandonment, as confirmed by the reports of the pastoral visits. In the second half of the nineteenth century the church was reopened for worship, while now it is owned by the Municipality of Bardolino, who bought it from the Cabrusà family. The abbey church of San Zeno has a Latin cross plan, a rectangular apse with vaulted vaults on the side arms and a cross on the tiburium, in the side arms are preserved original decorations and six Roman columns reused not for structural purposes but as decoration. It was one of the few churches in the Verona area left untouched by the earthquake of 1117. In recent times a private building has been placed against the church that has blocked the rose window and the original entrance door, which was rebuilt on the south wall.; another modification, probably of the eighteenth century, is the rectangular shape of the windows on the transept, while it is original that of the turret-tiburio on the south side. Inside, the floor is made up of square slabs of stone and the walls were completely frescoed, some parts remain, such as the figure of a saint inside the right-hand niche and others in the tiburio.