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Arco dei Gavi

Last updated on November 9, 2026

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The Arco dei Gavi stands beside Castelvecchio in Verona, and two things about it are unusual.

First, it is a private monument. Roman arches were normally imperial; this one was raised in the first century AD by the gens Gavia, a wealthy Veronese family, for themselves.

Second, it is signed. The architect, a freedman named Lucius Vitruvius Cerdo, cut his name into it -- something very few Roman buildings anywhere carry.

What stands is also not where it stood. Napoleonic troops pulled it down in 1805; the stones were kept, and it was rebuilt here in 1932.

Challenge to visitors

The arch is not where the Romans put it. It was demolished in 1805 and rebuilt on a nearby site in 1932, so anyone who needs a monument in its original position should know that before walking over. It also stands beside a busy road rather than in a protected setting, and without knowing to look for the architect's signature and the cart ruts in the paving there is not much here to hold a visitor for more than ten minutes.

Visiting tips and strategy

When to go

Late afternoon gives the best light on the arch and on Castelvecchio behind it.

Any season -- it stands in the open with nothing to close.

Early morning is quietest; Corso Cavour is a busy road and the arch sits beside it.

Evenings when it is lit, on the walk between the centre and Castelvecchio bridge.

Getting the good version

Find the architect's signature cut into the stone. Lucius Vitruvius Cerdo, a freedman, put his own name on this arch as its architect, which almost never happens in Roman architecture and is the single most interesting thing about the monument.

Look down afterwards for the cart ruts worn into the paving. Without those two things this is a handsome arch beside a busy road and nothing more. Take it together with Castelvecchio in a single stop rather than making a trip of it — the two stand next to each other and ten minutes is enough.

What it costs

Nothing, and you can walk right round it. The arch stands free on open ground beside Castelvecchio, with no enclosure of any kind — which in Verona is rare enough to be worth the sentence.

So the two things that make it unusual are both free to examine: that it is a private monument rather than an imperial one, and that its architect signed it. Lucius Vitruvius Cerdo's name is cut into the stone and reads from the ground.

Verified against Comune di Verona, November 2026.

Getting there and getting in

The arch is free and always accessible, standing in the open beside Castelvecchio on Corso Cavour. Nothing to book or pay.

It is a ten-minute walk west from Piazza delle Erbe, immediately next to Castelvecchio and its bridge, so the two go together naturally.

Allow ten minutes. Look for the signature and the cart ruts in the paving -- without those it is a handsome arch and little more.

The site is level and fully accessible.

Combined with Porta Borsari and Porta Leoni, it makes a Roman walk through the centre that costs nothing and takes about an hour.

Place accessibility

A free-standing Roman arch beside Castelvecchio, with nothing to enter and nothing to climb. It is free and open at any hour, and — unusually for Verona — it can be walked round completely.^*

The architect’s signature, which is the rarest thing about it, is cut into the stone and readable from the ground without height or a ticket.

The ground is level, which for a Roman monument in this city is worth saying. disMappa, the Verona association that maps the city for wheelchair users, described the piazzetta beside Castelvecchio as comfortably flat after the arch’s restoration — but that was in 2013, and it recorded the surface as compacted earth at the time, so the paving may well have changed since. No current access statement is published for the site by anyone.

Marked * is our own reading of the place, not something the operator states. We have asked them, and their answer will replace it.

Quick facts

Type: Monument
Local name: Arco dei Gavi (vedi la pagina italiana)
Reservation: Not required — tickets on the door
Typical visit: About 10 minutes
Built: 1st century AD; demolished 1805, reassembled 1932
Built for: the Gavia family
Designed by: Lucius Vitruvius Cerdo
Architectural style: Roman
A Roman building that names its architect: L. Vitruvius Cerdo, a freedman, signed the arch as its designer -- almost unheard of in Roman architecture, where buildings are credited to their patrons.
Pulled down, kept, put back: Napoleonic troops demolished it in 1805, but the blocks were numbered and stored; it was reassembled beside Castelvecchio in 1932, near its original site rather than on it.
UNESCO World Heritage Site: Yes

Where it is

Get directions Open in Apple Maps

Visit responsibly

The arch stands beside a busy road. Take care crossing, and keep off the carriageway when photographing it.

Do not climb on the arch or the displayed Roman paving. The cart ruts are the most fragile thing here and the easiest to wear away further.

Do not touch the inscriptions, including the signature -- carved letters are exactly what hands erode first.

Visiting Castelvecchio alongside supports the museum that conserves much of Verona's Roman and medieval material, including Cangrande's original statue.

Sources & verification Covers the sourced claims on this page.

Checked against Comune di Verona — Comune di Verona tourism page for the arco dei Gavi, read 2026-11-09 — recorded as a negative finding. The page is descriptive throughout and publishes no admission charge, no opening hours and no enclosure. What it does give is a street address, "corso Cavour, 2", and a setting — "una piccola area verde affacciata sull’Adige". That describes an unenclosed monument standing on a street rather than asserting that entry is free., Comune di Verona tourism page for the Arco dei Gavi, read 2026-11-11 — a negative finding, recorded as one. The municipality's own page for the monument is descriptive throughout and publishes no admission charge, opening hours or enclosure; it gives the arch a street address on corso Cavour and treats it as a free-standing monument on the public street., Comune di Verona tourism page for the Arco dei Gavi, read 2026-11-11. The page gives the monument a street address on corso Cavour beside Castelvecchio and publishes no opening hours, admission or enclosure — an unenclosed monument standing on a public street, reachable at any hour., Comune di Verona tourism page for the arco dei Gavi, read 2026-11-09 — a negative finding. The municipality publishes nothing on surface, gradient or step-free approach to the arch ("accessibilità" on the page is the site’s own web-accessibility statement). The only survey of the spot is disMappa’s, from 2013, which is attributed in the section text rather than cited here: a thirteen-year-old third-party observation cannot vouch for a current operational fact., Comune di Verona tourism page for the Arco dei Gavi, read 2026-11-11 — a negative finding, recorded as one. The municipal page is descriptive and publishes nothing about the surface around the monument, the approach from the pavement, or whether the displayed Roman paving at the foot of the arch can be reached level. (November 2026).