The Mera arch, in the heart of the city of Varese, connects piazza San Vittore with piazza Podestà and corso Matteotti.
The arch is covered on both sides with marble slabs and four stone inlays with Latin inscriptions, which frame the slabs and are placed, two on each side, next to the slabs, one at the beginning and one at the end. On the left wall there are three large marble slabs, each with a double row of names; two more are placed under the first slab, with the names of the Varese citizens who were awarded the gold medal for valour, and under the third one, with a Latin inscription and the names of the Varese citizens who particularly distinguished themselves; on the right wall there are three more slabs, a central one, where the two rows of names of the fallen are separated by a large sword in relief that occupies the entire slab, and two, thinner, lateral ones, with a single row of names. Above the large slab with the sword there is an inscription bearing the dates of the Great War in Roman numerals and under the slab a decorated capital. The slabs on the left side bear, in alphabetical order, the names of the fallen of the colonial wars, Eritrea, Libya, Ethiopia, and of the Second World War; the slabs on the right side, again in alphabetical order, bear the names of the fallen of the Great War.
