After the third century there was a late Roman watchtower on the site (the foundation is still visible in the internal courtyard), capable of controlling the roads to Vicenza, Padua and Mantua, as well as controlling the Bacchiglione. The history of the Montegalda castle begins in 1176 when this military fortress was built to defend the Vicenza area against the attacks of the Paduan people, with a wall and a ravelin.
In the first half of the thirteenth century the Castle was conquered by Ezzelino III da Romano, while in 1266 the Castle passed to the Padovans and, subsequently, to the powerful Scala family of La Scala (the emblem is a ladder still present), lords of Verona, who built the new castle tower with the current drawbridge of the 14th century, perfectly preserved and still functional. At the end of the 14th century the Castle became the property of the Visconti family, lords of Milan and then from 1404 with the dominion of the Serenissima Republic of Venice, the Castle lost its military function to become a noble villa. In the mid-15th century, the Castle was donated to the Vicenza family Chiericati and was then sold in the following centuries to the noble Venetian families Contarini, Donà, Grimani and Marcello. Montegalda Castle became their summer residence at the time.
The internal rooms still preserve frescoes by Andrea Urbani, a Venetian landscape painter and decorator of the 18th century, while the castle statues are from the workshop of Orazio Marinali, a sculptor from Vicenza. The Sorlini family, the current owner of the Castle, bought the complex in the mid-70s and after a careful restoration it brought the castle back to its former glory.
Grimani-Sorlini Castle
Address: Via Castello, 19, 36047
Phone: 0039 0444 736414/17
Site:
http://www.visitmontegalda.comLocation inserted by
Culturalword Abco