Scaligera Tower

the Tower, located west of the ancient village of Isola della Scala (Insula Scalarum), was made to erect by Mastino della Scala in 1136 for completion of the complex defensive system; the so-called "Serraglio Veronese" that, starting from the Lake of Garda arrived to Ostiglia, functioned as a protection to the Veronese territory from incursions pelmet and milanese. For its strategic position, on the ford of the River Tartaro, and the swampy nature of the surrounding territory was an important outpost of the defense and control of one of the compulsory passages on the River Tartaro along the major route of communication that connected the Lower Veronese in the province of Mantua.

The typology of the fortification, constituted from the tower with rivellino per room, derives from the schema of the doors of the city adopted by the Scaligeri family for the defense of the walls masterful of Verona and Vicenza. The central part of the wall structure consists of courses of pebbles alternated with brick, while the angular parts consist of bricks ammorsati sawtooth. The tower and the rivellino equipped with two drawbridges, are set side by side without any latching or clamping and both were equipped with a crowning achievement of Ghibelline battlements of which remains very little. The inside of the tower is divided into 5 floors in which they were staying the soldiers, of which the second and last covered with barrel vaults to all sixth while others were of lofts in wood. The stairs of communication between a plane and the other were external and retractable to prevent the assailants to reach the higher floors. A plaque walled, above the west side of the Rivellino, testifies to the restoration of the masonry structure occurred in 1839; in this occasion was also restored the masonry bridge with three arches, dating back to the Venetian era.