Walk to the Tower

Walk to the Tower

About 10 minutes from the Otto Ducati d'Oro hotel

From the courtyard of our hotel, you can access the banks of our property on the river Tartaro, which will take you to the nearby ancient Torre Scaligera. This is all that remains of the old castle of Isola della Scala, whose presence was documented in 1011. Destroyed in 1230-1232 by the inhabitants of Mantua, the castle was subsequently reinforced by Mastino II Della Scala in 1329-1351, when it became the final part of the 16km-long Serraglio Scaligero lthat started in Valeggio sul Mincio and was used to protect the area from Mantua.

The tower was originally surrounded by the river Tartar, which, with its deep waters, at that time was an effective defensive barrier for Isola della Scala.

The structure consists of two four-sided towers, the upper one had a number of wooden landings with soldiers who controlled access to the country. They were connected by external retractable staircases that rested on large corbels, still visible today. The lower tower had a double drawbridge.

The tower featured outer corners made of brick and shingles arranged in the shape of a "sawtooth" to provide additional strength to the corner walls, something typical of the Veronese, as well as Ghibelline dovetail battlements. However, most of the current fired-brick wall structure dates back to the restoration of 1839, as indicated by the wall plaque above the west side of the tower: "MDCCCXXXIX hoc collabefacturo renovatum comunitatis aere".