The Castelvecchio Museum is housed in the castle of the same name on the banks of the Adige River in Verona. The collection covers a period beginning in the early Christian era and ending in the 18th century and includes sculptures as well as frescoes and paintings.
Castelvecchio Museum Verona
Address, opening hours and entrance fee
The address of the Castelvecchio is Corso Castelvecchio 2 (tel. +39 045594734). Bus: 21, 22, 23, 24, 31, 32, 33, 41, 42, 61, 62, 91, 94, 95, 165, 173. Museum opening hours: Tuesday to Sunday from 08.30 to 19.30. Monday from 13.45 to 19.30.
Collection
The museum is spread over 29 rooms of the Castelvecchio Castle. The collection consists of works of art covering a wide time span, from early Christian art to the 18th century.
Sculptures
The museum begins in the Napoleonic wing, with the sculpture gallery, which features sculptures, reliefs and epigraphs from the early Middle Ages and Roman times. A highlight is the Arca dei Santi Giovanni e Bacco, a Romanesque sarcophagus from 1179, with impressive bas-reliefs. Also on display here is Longobard jewelry.
The following rooms show Veronese sculpture from the first half of the 14th century onward. The large, originally multi-colored, tuff stone statues by the Maestro di Sant’Anastasia, the most famous sculptor in Verona of the time are highlights.
The last room of the sculpture gallery is taken up by 15th century sculptures.
Painting
The first halls of what used to be the residence of the Della Scala dynasty are devoted partly to painting and partly to Venetian jewelry and gold work from the 14th century onward. Also on display is the funeral equipment of the Della Scala’s. The highlight is the “Poliptych of the Holy Trinity” by Turone (1360).
Next are the late Gothic halls, including a room with 16th and 17th century Flemish paintings, including a self-portrait by a young Rubens.
Other important paintings in this section are a “Madonna del Roseto” by Stefano da Zevio and a “Madonna della Quaglia” by Pisanello. Both paintings were produced around 1425. Jacopo Bellini is represented with a “Penitent Saint Jerome” and a “Crucifixion”. Giovanni Badile painted the “Poliptych of the Eagle” and Michele Giambono the “Death of the Virgin.”
The first rooms on the top floor are dedicated to regional painters from the 15th and early 16th centuries like Giovanni Bellini, Francesco Bonsignori and Nicolò Giolfino.
This is followed by the works of painters from Verona itself, such as Domenico and Francesco Morone, Giovanni Maria Falconetto and Liberale da Verona.
In the so-called Torre del Mastio one can see Andrea Mantenga’s “Holy Family,” Domenico Morone’s “Madonna and Child,” Carlo Crivelli’s “Madonna of the Passion” and the “Madonna with the Fan” by Francesco Benaglio.
The collection of weapons below the tower dates from the 14th to the 18th centuries. In the same room you can see a “Portrait of Pase Guarenti,” which has been attributed to several painters.
The equestrian statue near the tower depicts Cangrande I della Scala. It was made in the 14th century and originally stood near the Arche Scaligere.
The upper floor of the Napoleonic wing of the castle is dedicated to 16th to 18th local painting. The main room displays works by Paolo Caliari, nicknamed “il Veronese,” including a “Descent from the Cross” and an “Events from the Life of Esther”. This room also has works by Tintoretto and Giovan Battista Zelotti.
Other highlights include the monumental paintings of Paolo Morando (aka il Cavazzola) and works by Giovan Francesco Caroto (“Young man with a drawing of a puppet”), Girolamo dei Libri (“Nativity scene of the rabbits”) and Moretto (“Portrait of Gerolamo Savonarola”).
The last rooms show the passage from mannerist to Baroque painting. Here are works by Paolo Farinati, Domenico and Felice Brusasorci and Pasquale Ottino.
The 17th century is represented by Alessandro Turchi (aka l’Orbetto), Pasquale Ottino, Bernardo Strozzi, Francesco Maffei, Claudio Ridolfi, Pietro Ricchi and Dionisio Guerri.
Of the 18th century, there are works by Luca Giordano, Giambattista and Giandomenico Tiepolo, Antonio Balestra, Sebastiano Ricci, Francesco Guardi and Pietro Longhi.