Castle of Castellano: Medieval Fortress and Lodron Manor House in Italy
Site at a Glance
- Rating
- 4.2
- Popularity
- Low
- Country
- Italy
- Primary era
- Medieval
- External website
- Open
- Eras represented
- Medieval, Early Modern
- Civilizations
- Holy Roman Empire
- Site type
- Military
- Remains
- Castle
On this page9 sections
History
Castle of Castellano is a former medieval hilltop fortification in Castellano, Italy, later transformed into a manor house. Documented from the late twelfth century and first recorded in 1261 as castri Castellani, it served as the seat of an episcopal gastaldia, an administrative district governed for the prince-bishop of Trent, while controlling the Vallagarina and the roads toward the Cei valley.
Medieval lordship
The date of the surviving main tower is uncertain, but it is regarded as one of the oldest elements of the complex. The castle’s early history included the gastaldia governed by Gerardo, lord of Castellano. The Lords of Beseno held the fortress from the mid- or late twelfth century until 1234. The Lords of Castelnuovo then controlled it until 1266, when the Castelbarco family took possession.
Castellano remained in Castelbarco hands until February 1456, when the brothers Giorgio and Pietro Lodron seized it together with three other castles belonging to Giovanni Castelbarco. The action was encouraged by Georg Hack, prince-bishop of Trent. The Lodrons retained Castellano and Castelnuovo as fiefs, while Castel Corno and Nomi were transferred to the bishop. The conflict between the Lodron and Castelbarco families ended with a peace settlement in 1479.
The Lodron residence
From 1456, Castellano was a Lodron fief. After Antonio Lodron died in 1615, Nicolò Lodron of Castelnuovo succeeded to it. Nicolò and his son Paride Lodron were associated with alterations to the complex, including parts of its fresco decoration, other paintings, the seventeenth-century portal toward Piazza del Barc, and a copper roof covering the palace and tower. Paride later became prince-archbishop of Salzburg. These works reshaped the earlier fortress as a seigneurial residence.
The Lodrons continued to inhabit the castle into the eighteenth century. The complex later became dilapidated and passed to the Miorandi family, which acquired it during the 1920s. A 1924 auction record priced the castle, its extensive enclosed grounds, and the woodland below it at 12,300 lire. The adjacent Casa delle Decime and Camp Grant were sold separately.
Military damage and reconstruction
For a period, the castle was used by the Austro-Hungarian Imperial and Royal Army. A military cableway near the site carried weapons and ammunition from the valley. An earthquake damaged the complex in 1878, and during the First World War artillery fire from the valley, including fire from 420 mm howitzers, caused further damage. A shell fired from Monte Zugna also struck the castle, and part of the complex collapsed in 1918.
After the wartime damage, the remaining interior fittings, including the fireplaces, were removed. An extensive fire on New Year’s Eve 1931–32 destroyed much of what survived. In 1944, a storm brought down a high remaining wall. Local tradition also attributed part of that collapse to vibrations from Allied aircraft attacking the Brenner railway. In 1953, the castle was partially reconstructed using the perimeter of the former Sala Granda. The property remains privately owned and inhabited by the Miorandi family.
Remains
The castle stands at approximately 789 metres above sea level on a rocky hill or spur. Slopes and embankments protected it on three sides, while its position gave command over the Vallagarina and Rovereto and over the route toward the Cei valley. The surviving complex combines the remains of a fortified enclosure, a former palace, and the principal defensive tower. The present residence occupies only part of the earlier palace and is considerably lower than the original building.
Main tower and former palace
The Romanesque main tower, or mastio, was built on the summit of the rocky spur. A mastio was the principal defensive tower of a medieval castle, serving as a stronghold and lookout. The tower’s base corresponds to the third floor of the former palace on its outer side and rests on a larger masonry plinth that projects partly into the palace’s second floor on the inner side. Rusticated stone quoins reinforce its corners. The tower now survives at approximately half its former height, although its elevated position originally carried it well above the adjoining palace.
The former palace was an irregular pentagonal building with four storeys, a basement, and a large attic. It contained more than 35 rooms, including an animal-powered mill, a granary, and an entrance hall with a well supplied by rainwater from a cistern beneath it. A small internal courtyard occupied its center. The five roof slopes faced inward, helping collect water and strengthening the defensive exterior. Along the southern sides, the outer walls rose more than 20 metres.
The arrangement of palace and tower was once compared in shape to a large vessel used for making wine, with the tower resembling its handle. This form gave the castle the former nickname Castel Bazzom. The third and fourth floors were the noble floors. The third included the Sala Granda, the Stua Granda, a loggia with a three-light window overlooking the courtyard, and the small Chapel of Saint Joseph.
Chapel and surviving palace wall
The Chapel of Saint Joseph was separated from the loggia by a carved walnut gate topped by an old Annunciation fresco. Inside were a few benches, a wooden altar, and an old altarpiece of Saint Joseph. A surviving wall adjoining the main tower retains a bell gable and some battlements. It forms part of the former palace, whose tower was incorporated into its northern corner.
The present residence follows only the perimeter of the former Sala Granda. A second tower-like structure on the eastern side is regarded as the truncated remains of the palace. The surviving main tower and this eastern structure are joined by a covered building and by part of the former outer wall.
Enclosures and northern entrance
The palace and main tower formed the northern corner of an inner walled enclosure around a small rocky rise. A second circuit extended along two lines toward the ravine and enclosed slightly more than one hectare, an area now occupied by the village cemetery. Both wall circuits survive to a considerable extent.
On the northern side facing the village, a semicircular curtain wall separates the palace and tower. At its center is a seventeenth-century portal connected by an access ramp to Piazza del Barc. The ramp formerly included a drawbridge. A control tower beside it retains an old dovecot, a structure for keeping domesticated pigeons, at its upper level.
Some defensive walls have sloping faces designed to withstand the fire of early artillery. The long curtain wall ending at the so-called watchtower remains intact and visible. Together, these surviving walls preserve the defensive outline that preceded the Lodrons’ residential alterations.
Frescoes and movable remains
The former Sala Granda contained a representative hall with a continuous fresco frieze dating from the late sixteenth or early seventeenth century. Its decoration showed allegories of the four known continents and the four seasons, together with heraldic arms and views of the landscape along the Adige. After the fire of 1931–32, frescoes showing Vallagarina landscapes and heraldic emblems were detached. Five surviving panels were transferred in 1935 to the Civic Museum of Rovereto, where the remaining fresco material is preserved.
The castle also held cannon, fortress bombards, swords and great swords, and 170 arquebuses. An arquebus was an early shoulder-fired firearm used before and alongside the musket. Some of these weapons were requisitioned in 1796 for Rovereto’s defense against Napoleon’s French advance. The victorious French forces took the weapons that remained.
