The Castle of Villafranca di Verona was built starting in 1199, after the Battle of Ponte dei Molini (Mantua), and was completed in 1202. The purpose was to defend the population of Villafranca in casa of sudden attacks from Mantua.
Serraglio, a defensive wall unique in Europe, was built in 1345. It is about 13 miles long. It started from Borghetto and linked five castles: Borghetto, Valeggio, Gherla, Villafranca and Nogarole Rocca. Nowadays, of the Serraglio remains only some traces that can be seen along the right bank of the river Tione.
Inside the walls, there are seven small towers called 'Torresine'. The base of the Mastio (the main tower) was built using some stones that camed from the remains of the Arch of Emperor Tiberius. The wars over time destroyed most of the Castle.
Starting from the year 1450, the Castle was abandoned, and only centuries later, it was bought by some nobles such as Angelo Alessandri or G.B. Simeoni, the Count of Villafranca.
In 1890 the main tower of the castle was rebuilt and a clock was added. Under the main fortress, there is the Church of Christ, the first church of the district of Villafranca. In the inside, there are a fourteenth-century fresco depicting the Crucifixion and three paintings of the eighteenth century painted by Giovanni Battista Lanceni and representing the scourging of Jesus, the Christ mocked and crowned with thorns, and the ascent of Jesus to Calvary. The chapel has been restored in recent times.
References:Rosenborg Palace was built in the period 1606-34 as Christian IV’s summerhouse just outside the ramparts of Copenhagen. Christian IV was very fond of the palace and often stayed at the castle when he resided in Copenhagen, and it was here that he died in 1648. After his death, the palace passed to his son King Frederik III, who together with his queen, Sophie Amalie, carried out several types of modernisation.
The last king who used the place as a residence was Frederik IV, and around 1720, Rosenborg was abandoned in favor of Frederiksborg Palace.Through the 1700s, considerable art treasures were collected at Rosenborg Castle, among other things items from the estates of deceased royalty and from Christiansborg after the fire there in 1794.
Soon the idea of a museum arose, and that was realised in 1833, which is The Royal Danish Collection’s official year of establishment.