Verona Highlight: Castelvecchio

Castelvecchio literally means the old castle. On the westside of downtown Verona, along the Adige river, lies Castelvecchio. On one of our first visits to Verona, Angie and I got to explore the outdoor building, as well as the ancient pedestrian bridge that stretches across the Adige River. There is also a musuem that is housed within its centuries old walls. We'll explore that when we move there. The building is a great example of the Gothic architecture of the age. The castle was once surrounded by water from the Adige, but now is surrounded only by an empty ditch. It is built out of red brick and is composed of seven towers, a highly elevated keep that has four buildings within it. The construction was carried out by one of the Scalgieri family who led Verona for several centuries. The family member who oversaw this period was called Cangrande II. Cangrande literally means "Big Dog". The leaders of that time period took the names of dogs in the Verona area. Not sure why, but there are a couple of theories that I will share with you in a future Verona Highlight.

Here is an excerpt from Wikipedia about Castelvecchio:

The castle stands on the probable location of a Roman fortress outside the Roman
city. Lord Cangrande II della Scala had it built along with its bridge across the Adige
River as a deterrent to his powerful neighbors such as Venice, the Gonzaga and the Sforza 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) 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, slits were added to defend it with cannons. The castle was damaged by French troops during the Napoleonic Wars (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.
Under the Austrians, Castelvecchio was turned into barracks. In 1923 the castle was restored, as well as in 1963-1965. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Castelvecchio_(Verona)

Here is a link to the English version webpage from the city of Verona about Castelvecchio:

http://www.comune.verona.it/turismo/Passeggiando/inglese/itineraryA/castelvecchio.htm

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