# Exterior view [View the canonical artwork record]() ## Artwork - Artist: [ARCHITECT, Italian]() - Date: 1351-1400 - Technique: Photo ## Commentary The Castelvecchio \(Old Castle\) in Verona is the most important military construction of the Scaliger dynasty that ruled the city in the Middle Ages. Most of the castle and the Ponte Scaligero, a fortified bridge which links the central fortress with the far side of the river Adige, were constructed for Cangrande II della Scala \(1332-1359\)between 1354 and 1356. The completion of the castle seems to have occurred c. 1375. 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 of the age, with imposing M-shaped merlons running along the castle and bridge walls. It has seven towers, a superelevated keep \(maschio\) 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 castle is characterized by its long, low profile. There is litttle attempt at symmetry or at maintaining any abstract geometric pattern in the plan. The bridge was completely but accurately reconstructed in 1949-51 after its destruction by the retreating German army in 1945. The three unequal spans of the bridge are fully castellated and are guarded by two successive drawbridges. The defences at the city end include another drawbridge and a tall, massive tower which flanks the road and acts as the main keep of the castle. View the <a href="\#" onClick="w=window.open \('/support/plans/zzzarchi/14c/3/1/verona.html', 'newWin', 'scrollbars=yes,status=no,dependent=yes,screenX=0,screenY=0,width=400,height=600'\);w.opener=this;w.focus\(\);return false">plan</a> of Castelvecchio, Verona. ## Related artworks - [Aerial view]() - [Aerial view]() - [Apse of a basilica]() - [Arsenale Gateway]() - [Arsenale Gateway]() - [Basilica di Sant'Antonio: Chiostro del Noviziato]() - [Basilica Santi Nereo e Achilleo]() - [Ca' Foscari: Façade]() - [Chamber of the millers]() - [Chiesa dell'Incoronata: Interior of the dome]() - [Cloister gallery]() - [Detail of the façade]() ## Attribution [Web Gallery of Art]()