• About

    Ponte di Castelvecchio, also known as Ponte Scaligero, is a medieval bridge in Verona, on the Adige River, part of the fortress of Castelvecchio.

     

    SHORT HISTORY

    The bridge was built between 1354 and 1356 under the lordship of Cangrande II della Scala, to ensure the fortress of Castelvecchio with an escape route to the Adige Valley, in case of a riot by one of the enemy factions within the city.

    The structure of the bridge remained untouched for about five centuries, until 1802, when the French, following the Treaty of Lunéville, demolished the tower on the southern side and eliminated the battlements. In 1820, the battlements were reconstructed by the Austrians on the orders of Emperor Francis I of Austria.

    The bridge was destroyed on April 24, 1945, by the retreating Germans, along with all the other bridges in Verona.

    In the post-war period, the Municipality of Verona decided to rebuild it together with other important monuments lost during the Second World War. For the reconstruction project, the architect Piero Gazzola collaborated with the engineer Alberto Minghetti for the technical part and with the architect Libero Cecchini for the artistic part.

    The work began at the end of 1945, when the riverbed of the Adige was cleaned of rubble. In the second phase, began in 1949, the new stone blocks were relocated to their original position, thanks to the photographic documentation of the bridge. The reconstruction work was completed on July 20, 1951.

     

    ARCHITECTURE

    The bridge, belonging to the complex of Castelvecchio, appears to be a daring work for the period in which it was built, with the right arch having a light of 48.69 meters. The two smaller arches have spans of 29.15 and 24 meters, respectively.

    The base of the pylons and the arches of the bridge were built in stone, while the remaining part of the bridge is in terracotta, a material which characterizes all the medieval monuments of Verona.

    The two pentagonal-based pylons, facing upstream to facilitate the flow of the Adige river, are extremely massive, and the largest was enriched with fifteen Corinthian capitals and fragments of Roman bas-reliefs.

    The path along the bridge, over 120 meters long and over 6 meters wide, is bordered by dovetailed battlements, with walkways and loopholes.

     

    HOW TO GET THERE

    Ponte di Castelvecchio is located about 1.5 kilometers from the Verona Porta Nuova railway station. The closest bus stop is in Largo Don Bosco, about 180 meters away, on the bus Lines 30 and 91.

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