Castelvecchio Museum

This guide to the Castelvecchio Museum in Verona sets the two years it took Cangrande II della Scala to raise this fortress in 1354 against the roughly sixteen years architect Carlo Scarpa spent quietly taking it apart from the late 1950s into the 1970s. It follows Scarpa's decision to strip away the fake medieval battlements later rulers had bolted on, and his refusal to hide any of the cuts he made into the old brick, favoring exposed concrete, steel and brass instead. Run your hand along one of those seams where rough old masonry meets smooth new concrete.