The Castle Hill of Grosio is dominated by two castles. The Old Castle (Castello Vecchio) was probably built at the end of the 10th century. The Castello Nuovo was built as a stronghold between 1350 and 1375 due to the military-strategic needs of the 14th century.
The castle is surrounded by a double defense wall and had next to e solid keep even a fortified internal tower. Apart from a military expedition by Giovanni Cane in 1376 to Bormio, which had its starting point here, the Castello Nuovo was never involved in military confrontation or siege. Today the castle is only preserved as a castle ruin because after 1526 the new political power in Valtellina ordered the destruction of all fortifications in the valley. That way the dominion of the Three Leagues wanted to avoid any potential danger that could emanate from their own castles.
During the period of the Bündner Wirren (1620-1639), the Thirty Years' War in Europe, the structure was used by the French under Duke Rohan as a military base and got partially restored. The Castello Nuovo is nowadays the best-preserved example of all the historic defensive structures in the Valtellina.
Between 1992 and 1997 in the area of the Castello Nuovo archaeological excavations could document the remains of a bronze and iron age settlement, dating from the middle of the 2nd to the end of the 1st millennium BC. Some of the small finds are now exposed in the excavation museum.
References:The Royal Palace was built in the first half of the 19th century as the Norwegian residence of King Charles III, who also reigned as king of Sweden and otherwise resided there, and is the official residence of the present Norwegian monarch. The crown prince resides at Skaugum in Asker west of Oslo. The palace has 173 rooms.
Until the completion of the Royal Palace, Norwegian royalty resided in Paleet, the magnificent town house in Christiania that the wealthy merchant Bernt Anker bequeathed to the State in 1805 to be used as a royal residence. During the last years of the union with Denmark it was used by the viceroys of Norway, and in 1814 by the first king of independent Norway, Christian Frederick.