Castelvecchio

Italy

Castelvecchio is a castle in Verona, northern Italy. It is the most important military construction of the Scaliger dynasty that ruled the city in the Middle Ages.

The castle is powerful and compact in its size with very little decoration – one square compound built in red bricks, one of the most prominent examples of Gothic architecture of the age, with imposing M-shaped merlons running along the castle and bridge walls.

It has seven towers, a superelevated keep (maschio) with four main buildings inside.

The castle is surrounded by a ditch, now dry, which was once filled with waters from the nearby Adige.

Castelvecchio is now home to the Castelvecchio Museum and the local officer’s club which can be accessed through the left door on Corso Cavour.

The castle stands on the probable location of a Roman fortress outside the Roman city. Lord Cangrande II della Scala had it built along with its bridge across the Adige River as a deterrent to his powerful neighbours such as Venice, the Gonzaga and the Sforza families.

Construction was carried out between 1354 and 1376 (Cangrande died in 1359).

The fortified bridge was intended to allow the seigniors to escape safely northwards to the Tyrol in the event of a rebellion or a coup d’état (the Scaligeri were allies of the Holy Roman Empire) and when they eventually lost their hold on Verona, its surviving members left Italy to found a German branch of the family.

Later, during the Venetian domination, the bridge was further fortified to defend it with cannons. The castle was damaged by French troops during the Napoleonic Wars (1796-7), in retaliation to the Pasque Veronesi, when the local population staged a violent anti-French revolt.

Napoleon had chosen to stay in Castelvecchio on his trips to Verona, but his widespread and arbitrary requisitions of citizens’ and churches’ property, the massive draft of male workers into the French army prompted the resistance that eventually drove out the invaders.

The bridge was destroyed by the retreating German army in 1945 and rebuilt in 1949.

Under the Austrians, Castelvecchio was turned into barracks. In 1923 the castle was restored, as well as in 1963-1965.

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Buonconsiglio Castle

Italy

Buonconsiglio Castle is a castle in Trento, northern Italy, originated from a fortified building that was erected in the 13th century next to the city’s walls. This first building was called Castelvecchio (“Old Castle”) and was the seat of the Bishopric of Trent from the 13th century onwards to the end of the 18th century.

The castle is composed of a series of buildings of different eras, enclosed by a circle of walls in a slightly elevated position above the town. Then, as called, Castelvecchio is the oldest and most dominant building of the entire housing development.

The Magno Palazzo is the sixteenth expansion in the forms of the Italian Renaissance, wanted by the Prince Bishop and Cardinal Bernardo Clesio (1485-1539), the third part, in the southern end of the complex is the known Eagle tower, which preserves the famous Cycle of the Months, one of the most fascinating pictorial cycles of profane late Middle Ages.

Bishop George of Liechtenstein was the first to enlarge the castle, in the late 14th century, turning it into a well-styled residence.

The Castelvecchio was further modified by Johannes Hinderbach, who had the double loggia Gothic entrance gate built. In the first decades of the 16th century, Bishop Bernardo Clesio had a new residence, called Palazzo Magno (“Grand Palace”) built in Renaissance style alongside the old castle.

The last great addition was the so-called Giunta Albertiana, from the name of Bishop Francesco Alberti Poja (1686), with which the Castelvecchio and the Palazzo Magno were united

The castle remained the seat of the Prince-Bishops until 1803. Used by the Austrians as military barracks and, later, as a jail, it decayed. In the 1920s, when Trento was returned to Italy, it became the seat of a National Museum and was restored. Since 1992 it is home to the Provincial Gallery of Art.

According to legend, it was connected by a secret tunnel to the city’s cathedral, which allowed the prince-bishops to move unseen between them.

In 2015, rights were granted for the first time to film inside the castle, for Sebastiano Serafini’s music video for his single “Akane”.

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Miramare Castle

Italy

Miramare Castle is a 19th-century castle direct on the Gulf of Trieste between Barcola and Grignano in Trieste, northeastern Italy.

It was built from 1856 to 1860 for Austrian Archduke Ferdinand Maximilian and his wife, Charlotte of Belgium, later Emperor Maximilian I and Empress Carlota of Mexico, based on a design by Carl Junker.

The castle’s grounds include an extensive cliff and seashore park of 22 hectares (54 acres) designed by the archduke. The grounds were completely re-landscaped to feature numerous tropical species of trees and plants.

Miramare Castle and its park were built by order of Ferdinand Maximilian (1832–1867), of the House of Habsburg – younger brother of Franz Joseph, Emperor of Austria. In 1850, at the age of eighteen, Maximilian came to Trieste with his brother Charles and, immediately afterwards, he set off on a short cruise toward the Near East.

This journey confirmed his intention to sail and to get to know the world. In 1852 he was appointed an officer and in 1854 he became Commander in Chief of the Imperial Navy. He decided to move to Trieste and to have a home built facing the sea and surrounded by a park worthy of his name and rank.

According to tradition, when the archduke was caught in a sudden storm in the Gulf, he took shelter in the little harbour of Grignano and he chose that bare rocky spur of limestone origin as the setting for his home.

The whole complex, purchased for the first time at the beginning of March 1856, was called Miramar, possibly after the name of Prince Ferdinand of Saxony’s residence in Pena, Portugal.

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Sforza Castle

Italy

The Castello Sforzesco is a medieval fortification located in Milan, northern Italy. It was built in the 15th century by Francesco Sforza, Duke of Milan, on the remnants of a 14th-century fortification.

Later renovated and enlarged, in the 16th and 17th centuries it was one of the largest citadels in Europe. Extensively rebuilt by Luca Beltrami in 1891–1905, it now houses several of the city’s museums and art collections.

The original construction was ordered by Galeazzo II Visconti, a local nobleman, in 1358 – c. 1370; this castle was known as the Castello di Porta Giova (or Porta Zubia), from the name of a gate in walls located nearby.

It was built in the same area of the ancient Roman fortification of Castrum Portae Jovis, which served as castra Pretoria when the city was the capital of the Roman Empire. It was enlarged by Galeazzo’s successors, Gian Galeazzo, Giovanni Maria and Filippo Maria Visconti until it became a square-plan castle with 200 m-long sides, four towers at the corners and up to 7-metre-thick (23 ft) walls.

The castle was the main residence in the city of its Visconti lords and was destroyed by the short-lived Golden Ambrosian Republic which ousted them in 1447.

In 1450, Francesco Sforza, once he had shattered the republicans, began reconstruction of the castle to turn it into his princely residence. In 1452 he hired the sculptor and architect Filarete to design and decorate the central tower, which is still known as the Torre del Filarete.

After Francesco’s death, the construction was continued by his son Galeazzo Maria, under the architect Benedetto Ferrini. The decoration was executed by local painters. In 1476, during the regency of Bona of Savoy, the tower bearing her name was built. The castle in the 16th century.

In 1494 Ludovico Sforza became lord of Milan and called on numerous artists to decorate the castle. These include Leonardo da Vinci (who frescoed several rooms, in collaboration with Bernardino Zenale and Bernardino Butinone) and Bramante, who painted frescoes in the Sala del Tesoro; the Sala della Balla was decorated with Francesco Sforza’s deeds.

Around 1498, Leonardo worked at the ceiling of the Sala delle Asse, painting decorations of vegetable motifs. In the following years, however, the castle was damaged by assaults from Italian, French and German troops; a bastion, known as tenaglia, was added, perhaps designed by Cesare Cesariano.

After the French victory in the Battle of Marignano in 1515, the defeated Maximilian Sforza, his Swiss mercenaries, and the cardinal-bishop of Sion retreated into the castle. However, King Francis I of France followed them into Milan, and his sappers placed mines under the castle’s foundations, whereupon the defenders capitulated.

In 1521, in a period in which it was used as a weapons depot, the Torre del Filarete exploded. When Francesco II Sforza returned briefly to power in Milan, he had the fortress restored and enlarged, and a part of it adapted as residence for his wife, Christina of Denmark.Coat of arms of Galeazzo Maria Sforza, painted on an interior ceiling.

Under the Spanish domination which followed, the castle became a citadel, as the governor’s seat was moved to the Ducal Palace (1535). Its garrison varied from 1,000 to 3,000 men, led by a Spanish castellan.

In 1550 works began to adapt the castle to modern fortification style, as a hexagonal (originally pentagonal) star fort, following the addition of 12 bastions. The external fortifications reached 3 km in length and covered an area of 25.9 hectares.

The castle also remained in use as a fort after the Spaniards were replaced by the Austrians in Lombardy.

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Aragonese Castle

Italy

Aragonese Castle is a medieval castle next to Ischia (one of the Phlegraean Islands), at the northern end of the Gulf of Naples, Italy.

The castle stands on a volcanic rocky islet that connects to the larger island of Ischia by a causeway (Ponte Aragonese).

The castle was built by Hiero I of Syracuse in 474 BC. At the same time, two towers were built to control enemy fleets’ movements. The rock was then occupied by Parthenopeans (the ancient inhabitants of Naples). In 326 BC the fortress was captured by Romans, and then again by the Parthenopeans.

In 1441 Alfonso V of Aragon connected the rock to the island with a stone bridge instead of the prior wood bridge and fortified the walls in order to defend the inhabitants against the raids of pirates.

Around 1700, about 2000 families lived on the islet, including a Poor Clares convent, an abbey of Basilian monks (of the Greek Orthodox Church), the bishop and the seminar, the prince with a military garrison.

There were also thirteen churches. In 1809, the British troops laid siege to the island, then under French command, and shelled it to almost complete destruction. In 1912, the castle was sold to a private owner. Today the castle is the most visited monument on the island.

It is accessed through a tunnel with large openings which let the light enter. Along the tunnel, there is a small chapel consecrated to John Joseph of the Cross (Italian: San Giovan Giuseppe della Croce), the patron saint of the island. Outside the castle are the Church of the Immacolata and the Cathedral of Assunta.

The first was built in 1737 on the location of a smaller chapel dedicated to Saint Francis and closed after the suppression of Convents in 1806 as well as the nunnery of the Classes.

The castle was used as Riza’s ‘Fortified Fortress’ in the 2019 film Men in Black: International.

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Gradara Castle

Italy

The Gradara Castle is a medieval fortress that is located in the town of Gradara, Marche, in Italy. It is protected by two walls, the outermost of which extends for almost 800 meters, making it an imposing structure.

Particularly striking is the view of the fortress and the underlying historical village at night. The castle is one of the most visited monuments in the region and is the scene of museum events, musical and artistic. Gradara was, by geographical position, since ancient times a crossroads of traffic and people.

During the Middle Ages, the fortress was one of the main theaters of clashes between militias loyal to the papacy and the turbulent families of Romagna and Marche.

Situated at 142 metres above sea level, with the Republic of San Marino, Rimini and Carpegna in the background, Gradara represents an extraordinary urban and architectural combination.

Legend has it that the castle was the scene of the famous and tragic love story of Paolo and Francesca, caught in each other’s arms and killed by Gianciotto, Francesca’s husband. This love story was immortalized by Dante in his Divine Comedy.

The Gradara Castle dates back to the period between the 11th and 15th centuries. Its history is inextricably linked with the infamous feuds between the Malatesta and Montefeltro families. This long-standing conflict came to a halt only after the control of the castle fell into the hands of the Sforza family.

It was Dante, however, who intervened with his Divine Comedy, making the castle the locale for the tale of Paolo and Francesca and thus turning the castle forever into a symbol of love.

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