Castelvecchio and the Della Scala Tombs: The Family Who Ruled Verona

Verona's medieval skyline still bears the crest of a single family: a yellow ladder on a red field, marking a century of ambition and bloodshed. On this walking tour, you'll follow the Della Scala dynasty's violent rise and fall, from paranoid fortresses to family assassinations.

The tour starts at Ponte Scaligero, the fortified bridge Cangrande II built not to defend Verona from outsiders, but to escape his own citizens. From there, you'll cross into Castelvecchio, the castle built after his half-brother's failed coup, and pass Roman monuments like Arco dei Gavi and Porta Borsari, absorbed into the family's expanding city walls. Along the way, you'll pass Renaissance palaces built by rival Veronese families, always trying to outbuild each other's ambitions.

In Piazza delle Erbe, you'll stand where Mastino I founded the dynasty, in the square built over Verona's Roman forum. You'll walk through Piazza dei Signori, once home to Dante Alighieri during his exile, and past the Arche Scaligere, the family's Gothic tombs guarded by their ladder emblem. You'll also pass the house identified with Shakespeare's Romeo. The tour ends at Verona's Duomo, home to a rare Titian painting and centuries of the city's spiritual life.

On this 60-minute tour, you'll have a chance to:

• Climb Torre dei Lamberti, an 84-metre medieval tower with sweeping views over Verona's rooftops
• Spot the giant bone dangling under Arco della Costa, rumored to be from a whale or even the devil
• Step into Basilica di San Lorenzo, a Romanesque church tucked between later buildings since the 1100s
• Sip wine at Antica Bottega del Vino, a historic cellar holding over 14,000 labels of Valpolicella and Amarone
• Compare the rival Renaissance facades of Palazzo Canossa and Palazzo Bevilacqua, built by competing Veronese families
• Visit Juliet's House, its famous balcony added only in the 1900s despite centuries of legend
• See Basilica di Sant'Anastasia, Verona's largest church, begun under Della Scala patronage in 1290

By the time you reach the cathedral, you'll understand exactly how one merchant family's paranoia and ambition reshaped Verona's skyline for a century.