Medieval castles in Lombardy
Borromeo Castle
Borromeo Castle of Peschiera is the oldest possession of the Borromeo family in Lombardy. The family came originally from San Miniato in Tuscany. The Borromeo family became wealthy due their commercial and financial activities abroad. In 1435, Banco Filippo Borromeo & Compagni set up a branch in London. In 1432, Vitaliano Borromeo was granted to fortify Peschiera farmhouse. In the decades of the sixteenth century, t ...
Founded: 15th century |
Location:
Peschiera Borromeo, Italy
Chignolo Po Castle
Chignolo Po Castle is a beautiful eighteenth-century patrician residence, museum of art and customs, called 'the Versailles of Lombardy'. It contains important and precious testimonies of the lavish world of Lombard and Venetian nobility. The oldest part of the castle, born as a fortress on a hill, is the great Tower, from which a long stretch of the Po (Cuneulus super Padum). It is believed that it was built ...
Founded: 740 AD |
Location:
Chignolo Po, Italy
Oramala Castle
Oramala Castle was built in the 11th century by the Malaspina ancestors and remained in family ownership, albeit with various interruptions, for many centuries. Around 1200, in its greatest splendor, it was a prestigious cultural center housing Provençal troubadours. The castle was refortified in 1474 against the firearms. Malaspina family owned it until the 18th century, but after that it started to decay. The restorat ...
Founded: c. 1029 |
Location:
Val di Nizza, Italy
Pandino Castle
The Castle of the Visconti in Pandino is a Gothic-style castle located in the center of the town of Pandino. In 1355, Bernabò Visconti, Lord of Milan commissioned a castle at the site in part to have access to the then wooded surrounding hunting preserves. The castle is a quadrangle with corner towers and an internal courtyard with a hemming ground-floor portico with stout brick columns with peaked arches, and a second f ...
Founded: 1355 |
Location:
Pandino, Italy
San Colombano Castle
San Colombano Castle originates probably from the 6th century AD, but if was mentioned first time in the 10th century. The current castle was built by Frederick I, Holy Roman Emperor (Federico Barbarossa). During his second visit to Italy, he destroyed the existing castle, but decided to build a new one in 1164. The next reconstruction began in 1370. Later it has been conquered and rebuilt several times.
Founded: 1164 |
Location:
San Colombano al Lambro, Italy
Voghera Castle
Voghera Castle got its current appearance by the Visconti family in 1335–1372 and contains frescoes attributed to Bramantino. The history of castle however dates back to the 10th century. The northern wing was restored as a residential palace in the 19th century and the moat was filled. Today is is partially restored.
Founded: 1335–1372 |
Location:
Voghera, Italy
Scaldasole Castle
The original Scaldasole Castle was built in the 10th-12th centuries by Campeggi family. In 1334-1404 it was owned by Folperti family, who enlarged the castle yard. Since the late 18th century it has been owned by the Carlasco family.
Founded: 10th century AD |
Location:
Scaldasole, Italy
Gambolò Castle
Gambolò Castle was built around the year 1000 to defend the local people. It was damaged badly in the wars of 12th and 13th centuries. The current appearance dates from the 15th and 16th centuries, when it was altered into a new residence.
Founded: c. 1000 AD |
Location:
Gambolò, Italy
Polpenazze Castle
Built to defend against Hungarian invasions in the 10th century, Polpenazze castle was destroyed by the Visconti family at the beginning of the 15th century and reconstructed by Polpenazze in 1426. To allow the construction of the new parish church it was necessary to knock down the southern part and transform one of the towers on the walls into a bell tower. Today only the entrance to the medieval castle remains.
Founded: 1426 |
Location:
Polpenazze del Garda, Italy
Drugolo Castle
The Drugolo castle is located in the village with same name along the road that leads from Padenghe to Bedizzole in the morainic hills. Its construction is dated to the 10th century, perhaps by the Lombards. It has a square plan with two corner towers and is positioned on a wall that raises it considerably, has a drawbridge and Ghibelline battlements; towards the end of the 14th century the perimeter walls were rebuilt. ...
Founded: 10th century AD |
Location:
Drugolo, Italy
Castel d'Ario Castle
Castel d"Ario Castle was a strategic element of a defensive system into the Mantuan territory, together with Castelbelforte and Villimpenta Castles, placed on the borderline with Veneto. Castel D"Ario Castle represents one of the main medieval fenced-in castles with a pentagonal shape. Five towers are visible, included that one at the entrance, where people can still see the location where there was a portculli ...
Founded: 10th century AD |
Location:
Castel D'ario, Italy
Grumello Castle
Grumello Castle was built in the 13th century to a steep slope. It had two separate buildings, joined by a wall which has almost completely lost. The castle was destroyed in 1512.
Founded: 13th century |
Location:
Montagna in Valtellina, Italy
Maccastorna Castle
Maccastorna (or Belpavone) Castle was built inthe 13th century. It has been in hands of several noble families, lates Bevilacqua Veronese family owned it until 1901.
Founded: 13th century |
Location:
Maccastorna, Italy
Visconti-Castelbarco Castle
On the site of the current Visconti-Castelbarco Castle, a fortification had been existing at least since the 10th century. At the end of the 13th century the castle became a property of the Visconti of Milan. It was then inherited by a lineage originated by Uberto, brother of Matteo Lord of Milan, initially the Visconti di Somma and later the Visconti di Cislago. Destroyed in the 17th century, it was raised again in the ...
Founded: 10th century AD |
Location:
Cislago, Italy
Cavriana Castle
Towards the 11th century Cavriana became one of the properties of Canossa and it is in this period that the first fortification was probably built. Subsequently to the Canossa the ownership of the village passes to the free Municipality of Mantua that, to defend the boundaries from the growing power of the Municipality of Verona, grants it to the family of the Riva with defensive tasks but, in the second half of the XIII ...
Founded: 11th century |
Location:
Cavriana, Italy
Castiglione delle Stiviere Castle
The castrum in Castiglione delle Stiviere was founded probably in the 9th century, but it is much altered and restored, especially by the Gonzaga family of Mantua in the 16th century. The castle was home to a cadet branch of the House of Gonzaga, headed by the Marquis of Castiglione. Saint Aloysius Gonzaga (1568–1591) was born there as heir to the marquisate, but became a Jesuit. He died tending plague victims in Rome a ...
Founded: 15th century |
Location:
Castiglione delle Stiviere, Italy
Frascarolo Castle
The Castello di Frascarolo (Frascarolo castle) or of Medici of Marignano is on the hill on a dominating position between Ganna and Ceresio valleys. It is believed the castle is from the early Middle Ages, perhaps the work of the Longobards, but it’s only documented in 1160 when Archbishop of Milan Oberto da Pirovano upheld a valid resistance to the advancing inhabitants of Como looking to conquer the Varese area. How ...
Founded: 12th century |
Location:
Frascarolo, Italy
Cuasso Castle Ruins
Known as Castelasc in Lombard local language, the Castle of Cuasso is one of the most important defensive buildings in the province of Varese and Insubria. Founded in medieval times, it stands upon a hill which gives name to the whole city of Cuasso al Monte. Nowadays only ruins remain of the ancient structure. Due to the lack of written sources, the history of the castle is still, in some respects, mysterious. T ...
Founded: 8th century AD |
Location:
Cuasso al Monte, Italy
Camairago Castle
Camairago Castle was built in the first half of the 15th century by the order of Vitaliano I Borromeo, a nobleman from Milan. Borromeo family still owns the castle. During the first Italian War of Independence it was a headquarters of Austrian field marshall Radetzky in 1848.
Founded: 15th century |
Location:
Camairago, Italy
Soiano Castle
Soiano Castle overlooks the village of Soiano del Lago. It was built already in the 10th century against the Hungarian invasions and was also the meeting place for the heads of families in Chizzoline and Soiano. In order to oppose the feared Savoy army a further gate was constructed to close the castle. Currently the manor is once again the property of the Commune.
Founded: 10th century AD |
Location:
Soiano, Italy