Verona was founded to the site of current Castel San Pietro. This green hill, crowned by cypresses, is home to the remains of the first settlements dating back to the 7th century B.C. From this magnificent vantage-point you can enjoy the view of the whole city spreading out, with its network of Roman Roads, its walls, tall towers and steeples and, if your eyesight is good, you can even make out part of the Arena and the Ponte Scaligero. The current castle was built in 1393, commissioned by Gian Galeazzo Visconti.
At the foot of the hill flows the river Adige, and, on the site of the first ford (used for centuries) the suggestive Ponte Pietra (roman Stone Bridge). At the top of the hill stands the Austrian Fortress erected in the 19th century and which can be reached by a stair-way near the Roman Theatre. He pre-existing castle, on which the fortress rests and from which it takes its name, was erected towards the end oh the 14th century, during the first reign of the Visconti. Napoleon’s troops in 1801, and later the Austrians demolished much of this medieval structure.
The palace is not open to the public.
References:The church of the former Franciscan monastery was built probably between 1515 and 1520. It is located in the UNESCO World Heritage Site of Old Rauma. The church stands by the small stream of Raumanjoki (Rauma river).
The exact age of the Church of the Holy Cross is unknown, but it was built to serve as the monastery church of the Rauma Franciscan Friary. The monastery had been established in the early 15th century and a wooden church was built on this location around the year 1420.
The Church of the Holy Cross served the monastery until 1538, when it was abandoned for a hundred years as the Franciscan friary was disbanded in the Swedish Reformation. The church was re-established as a Lutheran church in 1640, when the nearby Church of the Holy Trinity was destroyed by fire.
The choir of the two-aisle grey granite church features medieval murals and frescoes. The white steeple of the church was built in 1816 and has served as a landmark for seafarers.