The twelfth century building was the fortified home of the feudal lords of Verona, the Della Scala family. Castelvecchio was put to useful effect by successive rulers and governments as a military structure right up to the unification of Italy in 1866. In 1926 it passed into the hands of the city authorities and became the seat of the Civic Museum of Medieval and Modern Art after some large-scale refurbishment and rebuilding in a style that can be described as new romantic. It is home to important and large public collections of Veronese painting and sculpture from the twelfth to the eighteenth century. Among these works figure true masterpieces of statuary including Cangrande I della Scala on horseback, as well as landmark works of art, especially as regards the painting of the Veneto region. The collection houses works by, to name but a few, Turone, Altichiero, Pisanello, Stefano, Andrea Mantegna, Giovanni Bellini, Paolo Veronese, Jacopo Tintoretto and Peter Paul Rubens and so on, up to Luca Giordano, Tiepolo, Guardi and Pietro Longhi. The museum library or Biblioteca d'Arte is open to the public and includes specialist sections such as the Numismatic department and the Prints and Drawings room. From 1956 to1964 Carlo Scarpa undertook the task of restoring the medieval castle and refurbishing the picture gallery. The result was the creation of an exceptional whole that stands up very well decades later as among the most fascinating examples of post-war modern Italian museum design. The project paid particular attention to the formal value of the works of art, the use of natural light and traditional local materials, and the relationship of the pre-existing architecture to the fabric of the historic city centre. The architect designed for this work all of the complementary "furnishings" to Castelvecchio, including the fixtures, individual supports for the works of art, cornices and stands, a range of lamps, the ticket office and the signs for the public. Scarpa's Castevecchio project is a work recorded in the Museum itself with over 600 drawings in the museum's collection. Carlo Scarpa's work is studiously and carefully maintained and has made Castelvecchio a place of pilgrimage not only for those interested in the figurative arts but also those whose passion is architecture and design. This interest has also been reflected in the museum management's dedication to exhibitions celebrating architecture and design. Over the past two decades there have been three special exhibitions of various aspects of Carlo Scarpa's production (1982,1991,2000), exhibitions on Bauhaus, Leon Krier, New Chicago Architecture, Silvano Zorzi, Aldo Rossi, Marcello Morandini, the New architecture of Frankfurt, the new Roman school and the "Ultime dimore" exhibition.

Open Hours

from 8.30 a.m to 7.30 p.m.

the ticket office closes at 6.45 p.m.
closed on Monday

URL: www.comune.verona.it/castelvecchio/cvsito
E-mail: castelvecchio@comune.verona.it

Attraction type

Castle; Historic site; Ballet; Art museum