Castello degli Ezzelini History

Historically it is considered among the castles of Europe, among the impregnable. This is proof that, in 1411, it also resisted the attacks of the first bombards fielded by the Hungarian emperor Sigismondo. The city, however, fell in 1508, under the siege of Maximilian of Austria who, with the League of Cambrai, had come down to conquer Venice. The new fortifications of Treviso and Padua, however, managed to save the Serenissima and, once signed the "pax" between Venice and Austria, Bassano and his castle lost the role of a strategic position for the defense of the downpipe of enemy troops from the Alps. Thus, while the military works were progressively abandoned, the activities linked to crafts and commerce grew at the same time.

The castle's fate was marked from the early sixteenth century and military works slowly fell into oblivion and were partially re-used for other purposes.
In modern times, excluding the 'private' parts, we are given a series of structures in a serious state of neglect and even invaded by wild vegetation up to the conspicuous collapse of 1928. A long and accurate restoration work lasting up to a few years ago allows now to understand the complex structure even with a guided tour on the spectacular and scenic walkway.

The first opera by Giuseppe Verdi "Oberto conte di San Bonifacio" is set within the walls of the Castle, a tragic story of betrayal and revenge composed around the family of Ezzelino III.
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The Castle of Bassano del Grappa

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Castello di Marostica History


With the conquest by the Scaliger of Vicenza territory in 1311, the territory of Marostica also came under the rule of Cangrande della Scala. With Cangrande the urban redefinition process of the city is started, with the displacement of the historical center passing from the ancient village, from the Roman and medieval age, to the current intramural center.
The Inferior Castle, of rectangular plan, is a typical castle-enclosure built next to an imposing Mastio. The Upper Castle - with a square base with four torres on the sides and a large central tower - stands on a much longer tower: on the highest point of the Pausolino hill, where it is located, it was built in Roman times fortification, also used in medieval times. The castle, as it appears today, was erected shortly after the year 1000 and with the walls, like a hug, envelops the citadel which is located just below the first flat strip and joins the Lower Castle.
It changed hands, for political or warlike events, to all the dominant lordships in that effervescent period of history between feudalism and free communes. Finally, from the fifteenth century, with the land dominion of the Serenissima lost all military importance and, like all the walled towns of the upper Veneto, it became an important agricultural and commercial center. With the recent restoration, what remains of these fascinating walls is rightly enhanced without exceeding in reconstructions.

Inside the castle, developed on two floors with large halls suitable for any type of occasion, the Castello Superiore Restaurant is located, for over forty years a reference point for lovers of cooking visiting Marostica. Venetian and classic cuisine of both meat and fish to be enjoyed in elegant environments, or in the summer outdoors, in the front of the restaurant, where tables are placed of those lucky few who can, having dinner by candlelight, be caressed by the summer breeze that makes its way through the fortified walls.

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Castello di Marostica

The castle, together with the fortress one of the symbols of the Asolan countryside, seems to date back to the 10th century although there is no definite information indicating the origins of the complex In 1242 it was home to Ezzelino da Romano and, from 1339, it became the seat of the podestà of Venice. At the end of the fourteenth century it became one with the city walls, construction that begun during the brief dominion of the Carraresi. Three of the four towers once characterising it still remain: the Civic or Bell tower, the Reata tower acting as a gaol and the Carro tower, nowadays part of the adjacent residence called La Torricella.In 1489 it became the residence of Caterina Cornaro, and Pietro Bembo set his “Gli Asolani” dialogues in this palace and its gardens. After Caterina’s death it was readapted to administrative functions and extensively restored.The French were stationed here in 1797 and, the next year, the great “Pretoria Hall”, where Venetian podestà once administered justice, was converted into a theatre. The western side of the castle was knocked down in 1816. Today the majestic clock tower is visible from all over town.Liberally adapted from “Atlante Storico delle Città Italiane – Asolo” edited by Guido Rosada directed by Francesca Bocchi © 1993 Grafis Edizioni Via 2 giugno, 440033 Casalecchio di Reno (BO)

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Castello di Asolo

La Rocca di Asolo o Rocca Braida è una fortezza, situata sulla cima al Monte Ricco, che sovrasta l'omonimo borgo.
Storia
La tradizione vuole che un originario complesso difensivo sorgesse qui fin dall'epoca preromana[1].

Grazie agli scavi effettuati tra il 1984 e il 1991 dalle discipline di Archeologia delle Venezie e di Topografia dell'Italia antica dell'Università di Padova[2], sono emerse tracce di una piccola aula di culto absidata, databile alla seconda metà del VI secolo, e di sepolture posteriori. La decorazione a mosaico messa in luce nella zona dell'abside è oggi conservata nel Museo cittadino.

Ad un periodo successivo sono da attribuire delle strutture abitative con dei semplici focolari domestici ed i resti di due crogiuoli per la fusione dei metalli.

La data di costruzione della attuale Rocca è stata posta tra la fine del XII secolo e l'inizio del XIII secolo.

Inizialmente possesso del Vescovo di Treviso, la Rocca passò quindi, seguendo le sorti della Marca trevigiana, ai da Romano, al comune di Treviso, alla Serenissima, che nel 1339 costituì ad Asolo una Podesteria, ai Carraresi ed infine, nel 1388, definitivamente alla Repubblica di Venezia.

La Rocca venne coinvolta nel suo ultimo episodio bellico nel 1510. Persa gradualmente l'importanza strategica, la struttura venne adibita a svariati usi diventando anche lazzaretto durante le continue pestilenze del cinquecento. Messa in disarmo nel 1650, Venezia tentò perfino di venderla a privati.

L'ultimo restauro risale al 1994.

Descrizione
La massiccia costruzione ha pianta poligonale di nove lati diseguali. Nelle muraglie, spesse alla base circa 4 m e alte fino a 15 m, non si aprono feritoie o finestre: solo una porta, già collegata al castello inferiore[3], dava accesso al caposaldo superiore del sistema difensivo della città.

La vera da pozzo e la sottostante cisterna, di foggia veneziana, è databile al XIV secolo.

Rocca di Asolo

History
The Porto family has appeared in Thiene since the mid-fourteenth century with land and houses. It is up to Francesco, in the middle of the fifteenth century, the beginning of the current factory and the construction of the noble chapel consecrated in 1476. The property then passed in 1507 to his nephew Francesco junior, a man of arms appointed in 1532 by the doge Andrea Gritti, general collateral of the Republic. It is to these that the major works of enlargement and embellishment of the palace are due, finished around 1525, after the devastation of the war of the league of Cambrai.
In 1541 Francesco Porto transmits the property, in the absence of direct heirs, to his nephew Giovanni, who between 1560 and 1570 calls Paolo Veronese, Giambattista Zelotti and Gianantonio Fasolo (Veronese pupils) to paint the interiors of the villa.
The Porto family retained ownership of the castle until 1816, when it was inherited by the Colleoni family, who in turn maintained the property for three generations until 1918, when it was finally inherited by the family of Thiene, the current owner of the castle.
The Palazzo is annexed by an artistic eighteenth-century stable, the work of Muttoni, which consists of a vast hall comprising 36 columns surmounted by putti, wooden mangers carved for 32 horses and the hammered marble floor and herringbone bricks.

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