Built to protect Verona from its enemies and Verona’s unpopular Scaligeri ruling family from its citizens, this fortified 13th century bridge crosses the Adige just behind the Castelvecchio in Verona, Italy.
Built as a military fortification, Castelvecchio continued in that role well into the 20th century, serving all rulers, including Austria and France. It’s now a tourist attraction in its own right, and houses an important art museum, which had a serious art theft on Nov. 19th.
Verona is also home to a great public official tourism scam: the alleged home of the fictional Juliet, tragic lead of Shakespeare’s play. The city owns a house it says was her home and Romeo and Juliet tourism hogs a good chunk of the tourism business. In the entrance area of the “home,” forty years of lovelorn and other grafitti…
