Description
Castelvecchio is a medieval castle on the Adige, right in the center of Verona, built by the Scaligers in the 14th century. Today it houses the city museum, but from outside you mostly see a red-brick fortress with crenellated walls, towers and a fortified bridge that crosses the river.
It was Cangrande II della Scala who built it from 1354, as a fortified residence and as a garrison for the heart of the city. It was a castle made to defend against enemies but also against the citizens: that is why he wanted a bridge of his own next to it over the Adige, an escape route toward the road to Tyrol.
The Scaliger Bridge has three large unequal arches: the main span measures almost 49 meters. In 1945 the retreating German troops blew it up, and between 1948 and 1951 it was faithfully rebuilt, just as it was. Of the original work, mostly the piers in the middle of the river remain.
The keep, the tall tower next to the bridge, was completed in 1376 by Antonio and Bartolomeo II della Scala. It was meant to watch over the city on both sides of the river. In Austrian times its terrace also held an optical telegraph to communicate with the fortresses of the Quadrilateral, as far as Mantua.
At first it was called the castle of San Martino in Aquaro, after a little church that stood where the Corte d'Armi is today. It became "Castel Vecchio", the Old Castle, only when the Visconti built a newer castle on the hill, Castel San Pietro.
The complex has three parts: the Corte della Reggia, to the south, where the lord lived; the Corte d'Armi, to the north, an almost rectangular enclosure with four towers and a dry moat; and in between the tall curtain of the city walls, which already existed before the castle.
Over the centuries it was anything but a royal palace: barracks, arsenal, military school. Napoleon's troops demolished the Clock Tower and built a barracks in the Corte d'Armi.
What you see today is largely the result of the 1923-1926 restoration, which gave it a medieval look again: the Napoleonic barracks, for example, became a Scaliger-Venetian palace that never existed.
Since the late 1950s the castle has also been the museum, renovated by Carlo Scarpa: rooms with works by Pisanello, Bellini, Mantegna and Rubens, and Cangrande's equestrian statue on a raised support.
Don't miss
• The Scaliger Bridge.
• The keep.
• The Corte d'Armi.
• Scarpa's museum.
Did you know?
• The bridge was for the castle's exclusive use: it served as an escape route or for bringing in help from the Adige Valley.
• The people who rebuilt the towers did not respect the original heights: in the larger enclosure the walls look too low compared with the towers.
It was Cangrande II della Scala who built it from 1354, as a fortified residence and as a garrison for the heart of the city. It was a castle made to defend against enemies but also against the citizens: that is why he wanted a bridge of his own next to it over the Adige, an escape route toward the road to Tyrol.
The Scaliger Bridge has three large unequal arches: the main span measures almost 49 meters. In 1945 the retreating German troops blew it up, and between 1948 and 1951 it was faithfully rebuilt, just as it was. Of the original work, mostly the piers in the middle of the river remain.
The keep, the tall tower next to the bridge, was completed in 1376 by Antonio and Bartolomeo II della Scala. It was meant to watch over the city on both sides of the river. In Austrian times its terrace also held an optical telegraph to communicate with the fortresses of the Quadrilateral, as far as Mantua.
At first it was called the castle of San Martino in Aquaro, after a little church that stood where the Corte d'Armi is today. It became "Castel Vecchio", the Old Castle, only when the Visconti built a newer castle on the hill, Castel San Pietro.
The complex has three parts: the Corte della Reggia, to the south, where the lord lived; the Corte d'Armi, to the north, an almost rectangular enclosure with four towers and a dry moat; and in between the tall curtain of the city walls, which already existed before the castle.
Over the centuries it was anything but a royal palace: barracks, arsenal, military school. Napoleon's troops demolished the Clock Tower and built a barracks in the Corte d'Armi.
What you see today is largely the result of the 1923-1926 restoration, which gave it a medieval look again: the Napoleonic barracks, for example, became a Scaliger-Venetian palace that never existed.
Since the late 1950s the castle has also been the museum, renovated by Carlo Scarpa: rooms with works by Pisanello, Bellini, Mantegna and Rubens, and Cangrande's equestrian statue on a raised support.
Don't miss
• The Scaliger Bridge.
• The keep.
• The Corte d'Armi.
• Scarpa's museum.
Did you know?
• The bridge was for the castle's exclusive use: it served as an escape route or for bringing in help from the Adige Valley.
• The people who rebuilt the towers did not respect the original heights: in the larger enclosure the walls look too low compared with the towers.