Where is the Scaliger Castle?

2024 Author: Harold Hamphrey | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 10:06

Everyone knows that the famous La Scala Opera House is located in Milan. This cultural institution bears the proud name of a noble family - the Scaligers. What kind of family is this and what does it have to do with the Moscow Kremlin? This article will tell you about it. In the meantime, let's say that the architects who built the Scaliger castle (Italy) brought a political component to the architecture. In order to understand all the nuances of the decoration of the fortress walls, we inevitably need to make a short historical digression into the era of the late Middle Ages, when the whole of Italy was torn apart by the war between the Guelphs and the Ghibellines. But even earlier, in the first half of the eleventh century, the surname della Scala, or the Scaligers, emerges.

Supporters of the Pope and allies of the Emperor

In the twelfth century, the political life of Lombardy, northern Italian cities and Tuscany entered a phase of irreconcilable enmity between the two parties. The Guelphs were ardent supporters of the Pope and his claims to secular power. The Ghibellines, on the other hand, defended the emperor's right tolegacy of Charlemagne. There was also a spiritual component to this political struggle. In the era of the Millennium, the Church of Christians crystallized and took shape, the clergy of which lived according to the gospel commandments. The papacy, which had long since strayed from the path of righteousness, declared these monks heretics, giving them the nickname "Cathars". Religious repression broke out, as a result of which those who refused to renounce their faith were burned alive by the inquisitors. Unfortunately, the Scaliger castle in Verona served as a prison for more than a hundred such Christians before being executed at the stake. The Ghibellines supported the disgraced Church. This party managed to temporarily take power in several cities. One of them was Verona.

Mastino I della Scala and his brother Alberto

The entire Scaliger dynasty was known for its loy alty to the emperor. The most prominent representative of the family was Mastino I. He fought with Emperor Konradin against the troops of Charles of Anjou. The heyday of his power came in 1260. Then he held the post of podesta (governor) of Verona. And two years later he was elected to the post of captain of the people (military commander of the city). In this capacity, Mastino significantly advanced the borders of Verona's possessions to the north. On the shores of Lake Garda, he built the Scaliger castle. The town of Sirmione, standing under the shadow of this fortified citadel, became a refuge for the Christians of the disgraced Church, whose representatives were already burned everywhere in Lombardy and Tuscany. The Pope imposed an interdict on Verona. To remove the excommunication from himself and from the city, Mastino arrestedChristian dissidents in Sirmione and Desenzano and transferred them to the prison of his Verona castle. But he was in no hurry to carry out the sentence of church judges. In 1279, according to sources, Mastino was killed out of private revenge. His own brother Alberto, being at that time the underling in Mantua, immediately came to Verona and burned more than a hundred monks in the ancient arenas of the city. After this step, the papal interdict was lifted.

Castle of the Scaligers in Verona

This structure was built long after the death of Mastino the First, by his descendant Kangrad the Second, in the fourteenth century. The castle was part of the defensive walls of Verona and at first bore the name of San Martino al Ponte (after the church that stood at the bridge over the moat). Kangrad built a tower of city fortifications according to the latest canons of military defense technology of that time. High walls rose straight out of the water that filled the deep ditch. But the Scaliger castle did not appear in Verona from scratch. During the era of the Roman Empire, a military fort was already located here. On its foundation, Cangrad della Scala built his citadel. Therefore, the castle in Verona is also called Castelvecchio - the Old Fortress. It served as the residence of Napoleon, it housed the Austrian garrison. The castle is connected to the city by the Scaliger Bridge, which was built by the famous architect Guillelmo Bevilacqua on the orders of Cangrade.

Castle of the Scaligers in Sirmione

On the south coast of Lake Garda, on a cape, there is a fabulously beautiful city. Thanks to the thermal waters, Sirmione wasknown since antiquity, as evidenced by the remains of Roman villas. The castle was built at the end of the twelfth century to protect the distant approaches of Verona from the attacks of the Lombards. Mastino Scaliger significantly strengthened this defensive structure. By his order, a moat was dug, turning the "rocca" almost into an island. Mastino also built a harbor that housed Verona's fleet. Representatives of the genus betrayed Ghibelline sympathies, so later towers have rectangular battlements. The castle was of defensive importance until the sixteenth century. Now within its walls is a museum. On Lake Garda, in the town of Malcesine, there is another Scaliger castle. A photo of this medieval fortress, towering on a coastal cliff, is known to many Germans. After all, the poet Goethe visited here, who described it in his Italian Travels. Representatives of the Scaliger family lived in Malcesine from 1277 to 1387. The dynasty also owned a castle in Torri del Benaco.

Policy and architecture

It is easy to see that all the fortresses belonging to the Scaligers have battlements in the form of dovetails. When the representatives of the clan submitted to the pope and went over to the side of the Guelphs, the equipment of the locks also changed. The battlements of later buildings became rectangular. This is not at all related to the fashion for decor. Demonstrating their political affiliation was characteristic of both the Ghibellines and the Guelphs. In a country torn apart by internal conflicts, it was important to see which lord's castle you were approaching. The Ghibellines took as a basis an eagle flapping its wings - likeon the emperor's oriflamme. The Guelphs chose a rectangle as a symbol - a stylized papal tiara.

Moscow Kremlin and Italian feuds

When, in the middle of the fifteenth century, Tsar Ivan III decided to rebuild and expand his court, he ordered the most fashionable architects of that time from the Duchy of Milan: Aristotle Fioravanti, Marco Ruffo, Pietro Antonio Solari. Before the arriving architects, he set the task: to build the Kremlin on the model of the Sforza and Scaliger castles. The Italians introduced the sovereign to the essence of the decoration of the fortress walls. What merlons (teeth) to put? The king reasoned that it was unsuitable for his dwelling to bear the symbol of the subjugation of papal authority. That's why the walls of the Moscow Kremlin are decorated with dovetail-shaped battlements.