The Veronese Easter (Italian: Pasque Veronesi, or singular Pasqua Veronese; French: Pâques véronaises) is a rebellion during the Italian campaign of 1797, in which inhabitants of Verona and the surrounding areas revolt against the French occupying forces under Antoine Balland, while Napoleon Bonaparte (the French supreme commander in the Italian campaign) is fighting in Austria.
The uprising receives its name through association with the anti-French uprising of the Sicilian Vespers of the thirteenth century.
Incited by oppressive behavior by the French (confiscating the assets of Verona's citizens and plotting to overthrow the city's local government), it begins on the morning of April 17, 1797, the second day of Easter: the enraged population succeeds in defeating more than a thousand French soldiers in the first hour of fighting, forcing them to take refuge in the town's fortifications, which the mob then captures by force.
The revolt ends on April 25, 1797 with the encirclement and capture of the town by fifteen thousand soldiers, who then force it to pay a huge fine and hand over various assets, including artwork.
