Thursday, July 20, 2017

VERONA 2017: The Castelvecchio Museum and Bridge


One of the beauties of Verona, Italy, is its bridges crossing the Fume Adige, the second largest river in Italy.

There are 6 main bridges, starting from left to right:
Castelvecchio, Vittoria, Garibaldi, Pietra, Nuovo and Navi.
We stood on or crossed all of them in our 4 days there.
[scan of our Verona map/guide]

Sometimes we saw them from tower vantage points.

Most of the time we viewed them from one bridge to the other.
Our favorite was the Castelvecchio (bottom-left), which this post is about...
mainly because it's part of a castle and a museum.

We first saw the castle on our way to visit the San Zeno Basilica on our first day.
This was a pass-by because it was already late afternoon.

Still passing by, while walking to the basilica, we knew we'd definitely come back...

...which we did the next day for a proper look.
The Castelvecchio (castle) is "the most important military construction
of the Scaliger dynasty that ruled the city in the Middle Ages."  (Wiki)

The Arco dei Gavi was commissioned to be built in the 1st century by the Romans.
It stands next to the castle and was used as an entrance gate to the city during the Middle Ages.

From the arch side of the castle (the right side), we had views of the bridge we'd see later.

We decided to see the museum first before ending with the bridge.
The courtyard in front of the museum was its own...museum,

and photo op!

We did a quick run-through of what the museum itself exhibits.
Think Romanesque and you've got it covered.

Out the back side of the museum was another courtyard.

Back to the front of the castle, street side, we found the entrance to the pedestrian bridge.
THIS is what we had really come to see, saving the best for last.

Talk about red brick with its upright M-shaped merlons!

And see that church (bottom-right)...that's the San Zeno Basilica we visited the day before.

Later that day, while up the Lamberti tower at the other end of the city,
 I captured the castle from afar.

And the next day, while visiting several churches, I captured the bridge again,
this time from the Ponte della Vittoria bridge to the east of it.

It was our full-circle highlight of one of Verona's most memorable landmarks.


12 comments:

  1. You did save the best for last! That bridge is amazing!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks, Robin. It's hard to be disappointed with a bridge like that.

      Delete
  2. I really regret not having visited this city as well as you in all its details. Bridges and old stones are magnificent. Thank you for sharing Ginnie

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. When we knew we would spend 11 days in Venice, Marie, it was an easy decision to allow for 4 of the days at the end to be in another city nearby. Verona was the perfect choice, but only because we had the time. I would not have wanted too short-change Venice if our trip were shorter.

      Delete
  3. So glad I saw this before I have seen Verona (wish) because if I relied on other's blogs, all I get is the balcony of Juliet. Thank you Ginnie.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. It blows my mind to think that the Juliette balcony is at the top of the list for people thinking about Verona, Maria. For us it was a happy side-line to the rest of our sightseeing.

      Delete
  4. You are so observant and catch the details in most everything you see, Ginnie. I love it!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Most kind of you to say so, Marie. It always amazes me what I DON'T see when I look at Astrid's images, having been with me all along the way! :)

      Delete
  5. lovely pictures... i wouldn't have minded living in a castle back in the day, since i'm such a princess about it all lol thanks for the tour sister!!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. LOL, Elaine. You could grow your hair out long again and be a genuine Rapunzel! :)

      Delete
  6. That is quite the history were we walked in. That bridge is mind blowing that it is still 'alive'. Wonderful pictures to remind us how lucky we are that we
    we were able to walk in the 'footsteps' of the Roman. IHVJ.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. In the footsteps of the Romans, indeed, Astrid. It really does blow the mind, doesn't it!

      Delete

Texel Island, NL, 2024: Renovations

  To be honest, I thought I had already posted about our January trip to start some renovations in Jaap's bungalow, as a gift from Astri...