I didn’t know castles came in brick.
Castelvecchio in Verona is a very beautiful, very strange fortification. It was built privately by the Scala dynasty, rulers of Verona, in the mid-14th century and stocked with mercenaries from other cities. The Scaliger dynasty (think poisoned daggers and you’ll have a pretty thorough grasp of this family’s collective personality) was wary of other princely families of Italy, like the Gonzagas of Mantua and the Sforzas of Milan.
There’s pigeons nesting on the roof.
I’ve never seen merlons (the teeth at the top of the tower) in that shape before. They’re distinctively M-shaped.
The castle itself is very old, but the current bridge across the river is a 1949 reconstruction after the retreating Nazis blew up the original.