Castelvecchio (Italian: "Old Castle") is a

castle A castle is a type of fortification, fortified structure built during the Middle Ages predominantly by the nobility or royalty and by Military order (monastic society), military orders. Scholars usually consider a ''castle'' to be the private ...

Verona Verona ( ; ; or ) is a city on the Adige, River Adige in Veneto, Italy, with 255,131 inhabitants. It is one of the seven provincial capitals of the region, and is the largest city Comune, municipality in the region and in Northeast Italy, nor ...

, northern

Italy Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe, Western Europe. It consists of Italian Peninsula, a peninsula that extends into the Mediterranean Sea, with the Alps on its northern land b ...

. It is the most important military construction of the

Scaliger The House of Della Scala, whose members were known as Scaligeri () or Scaligers (; from the Latinized ''de Scalis''), was the ruling family of Verona and mainland Veneto (except for Venice) from 1262 to 1387, for a total of 125 years. History ...

dynasty that ruled the city in the

Middle Ages In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the 5th to the late 15th centuries, similarly to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire and ...

. The castle is powerful and compact in its size with very little decoration — one square compound built in red bricks, one of the most prominent examples of

Gothic architecture Gothic architecture is an architectural style that was prevalent in Europe from the late 12th to the 16th century, during the High Middle Ages, High and Late Middle Ages, surviving into the 17th and 18th centuries in some areas. It evolved f ...

of the age, with imposing M-shaped merlons running along the castle and bridge walls. It has seven towers, a superelevated

keep A keep is a type of fortified tower built within castles during the Middle Ages by European nobility. Scholars have debated the scope of the word ''keep'', but usually consider it to refer to large towers in castles that were fortified residen ...

(''maschio'') with four main buildings inside. The castle is surrounded by a ditch, now dry, which was once filled with waters from the nearby

Adige The Adige is the second-longest river in Italy, after the Po. It rises near the Reschen Pass in the Vinschgau in the province of South Tyrol, near the Italian border with Austria and Switzerland, and flows through most of northeastern Italy ...

. Castelvecchio is now home to the

Castelvecchio Museum Castelvecchio Museum (Italian: Museo Civico di Castelvecchio) is a museum in Verona, northern Italy, located in the eponymous medieval castle. Restoration by the architect Carlo Scarpa between 1959 and 1973 has enhanced the appearance of the ...

and the local officer's club which can be accessed through the left door on Corso Cavour.

History

The castle stands on the probable location of a

Roman Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy *Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD *Roman people, the people of Roman civilization *Epistle to the Romans, shortened to Romans, a letter w ...

fortress outside the Roman city. Lord

Cangrande II della Scala Cangrande II della Scala (7 June 1332 – 14 December 1359) was Lord of Verona from 1351 until his death. In 1351, after the death of his father Mastino II della Scala, he inherited the lordship of Verona and Vicenza, initially (until 1352) ...

had it built along with its

bridge A bridge is a structure built to Span (engineering), span a physical obstacle (such as a body of water, valley, road, or railway) without blocking the path underneath. It is constructed for the purpose of providing passage over the obstacle, whi ...

across the

Adige River The Adige is the second-longest river in Italy, after the Po. It rises near the Reschen Pass in the Vinschgau in the province of South Tyrol, near the Italian border with Austria and Switzerland, and flows through most of northeastern Italy ...

as a deterrent to his powerful neighbors such as Venice, the Gonzaga and the

Sforza The House of Sforza () was a ruling family of Renaissance Italy, based in Milan. Sforza rule began with the family's acquisition of the Duchy of Milan following the extinction of the Visconti of Milan, Visconti family in the mid-15th century and ...

families. Construction was carried out between 1354 and 1376 (Cangrande died in 1359). The fortified bridge was intended to allow the seigniors to escape safely northwards to the Tyrol in the event of a rebellion or a coup d'état (the Scaligeri were allies of the

Holy Roman Empire The Holy Roman Empire, also known as the Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation after 1512, was a polity in Central and Western Europe, usually headed by the Holy Roman Emperor. It developed in the Early Middle Ages, and lasted for a millennium ...

) and when they eventually lost their hold on Verona, its surviving members left Italy to found a German branch of the family. Later, during the Venetian domination, the bridge was further fortified to defend it with cannons. The castle was damaged by French troops during the

Napoleonic Wars {{Infobox military conflict , conflict = Napoleonic Wars , partof = the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars , image = Napoleonic Wars (revision).jpg , caption = Left to right, top to bottom:Battl ...

(1796-7), in retaliation to the Pasque Veronesi, when the local population staged a violent anti-French revolt. Napoleon had chosen to stay in Castelvecchio on his trips to Verona, but his widespread and arbitrary requisitions of citizens' and churches' property, the massive draft of male workers into the French army prompted the resistance that eventually drove out the invaders. The bridge was destroyed by the retreating German army in 1945 and rebuilt in 1949. Under the

Austria Austria, formally the Republic of Austria, is a landlocked country in Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine Federal states of Austria, states, of which the capital Vienna is the List of largest cities in Aust ...

ns, Castelvecchio was turned into barracks. In 1923 the castle was restored, as well as in 1963–1965.

References

{{Authority control Buildings and structures completed in 1376 Buildings and structures in Verona Castles in Veneto Museums in Verona Gothic architecture in Verona Tourist attractions in Verona

History

See also

References