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Piazza Erbe largely overlaps with the Roman city's forum, located between the main urban roads, or the decumanus maximus (Corso Santa Anastasia) and the cardo maximus (Via Cappello). The forum had the large Capitolium building as its backdrop, where the 18th-century Palazzo Maffei now stands (the ancient ruins can be seen in the basement). Over the centuries, the square continued to be the centre of the city, especially for the market, but also for public ceremonies and executions of condemned prisoners. In 1368, Cansignorio della Scala, lord of Verona, had the fountain known as Madonna Verona installed, featuring a large red marble basin. The centrepiece of the fountain is a headless female statue from the Roman era, to which a head was added to become an allegory of civic power. The figure holds a scroll bearing the motto of the medieval municipality: "est iusti latrix Urbs / haec et laudis amatrix" ("This City is the dispenser of justice and lover of praise"). There are four heads in the bulb: one represents Verona crowned as a royal city, the other three depict Emperor Verus Antoninus Pius, as the presumed ancient founder (the name is not clearly identifiable, referring somewhat to Marcus Aurelius and somewhat to Antoninus Pius), and the medieval rulers Alboin, King of the Lombards, and Berengar I, King of Italy and Emperor, who were buried in Verona. The large column in the square supporting the Lion of Saint Mark was built by architect Michele Leoni in 1523 to celebrate the city's return to the Republic of Venice after a period of imperial rule.
