Ponte Scaligero

The Ponte Scaligero — also known as the Ponte di Castelvecchio — is a fortified marble bridge built in 1357 spanning the Adige river in Verona, attached directly to the Castelvecchio fortress. Commissioned by Cangrande II della Scala as an escape route for the ruling family, the bridge was deliberately engineered to be demolished behind a fleeing party if necessary. In 1945, retreating German forces blew it up entirely; a meticulous reconstruction completed in 1951 used original stones recovered from the riverbed. Pedestrians and cyclists can cross its three wide Gothic arches today, taking in one of Verona's finest river panoramas — the Lessinia hills upstream, the medieval roofline of the city downstream.