The Arco dei Gavi
A Roman arch demolished under Napoleon and rebuilt from its original stone.
Sokoljan — Public domain · This Photo was taken by Wolfgang Moroder. Feel free to use my photos, but please mention me as the author and send me a message. This image is not in the public domain. Please respect the copyright pr — CC BY-SA 3.0 · Krzysztof Golik — CC BY-SA 4.0 · Krzysztof Golik — CC BY-SA 4.0
A street in central Verona running from the Roman Borsari gate to the Castelvecchio fortress, the old Roman road leaving the city westwards. What makes it worth walking is what lines it: Renaissance palaces with carved fronts, churches, Roman arches and buildings of different layers along about half a kilometre. The street is less crowded than Verona's visitor centre despite linking two major sights. At its middle stands the Arco dei Gavi, a Roman triumphal arch of the first century. The story in it is that the arch was demolished under Napoleonic rule and then rebuilt from its preserved pieces in the 1930s — so what you see is original stone recently assembled. The street ends at Castelvecchio, the fourteenth-century fortress that today holds Verona's art museum, with its crenellated bridge over the Adige, among the finest things in the city. Walking it is free, and it is the best way to see Verona's layers in a single route.
A Roman arch demolished under Napoleon and rebuilt from its original stone.
The street is the ancient western exit from the Roman city.
A crenellated bridge over the Adige at the route's end — among Verona's finest.
From the Borsari gate to Castelvecchio, Verona
Yes, for two reasons. The collection holds Veronese and Venetian painting from the Middle Ages to the eighteenth century. More importantly, the museum's own restoration is a celebrated work of architecture: Carlo Scarpa redesigned it in the 1960s in a way that clearly separates new from old, and it is now taught as a reference in architecture schools.
Start at Piazza Bra and the Roman arena in the morning before the heat and crowds, walk to Piazza delle Erbe and Piazza dei Signori, then Corso Cavour west to Castelvecchio and its bridge. If time remains, cross the river to the Roman theatre and the garden overlooking the city. One day covers the centre.
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