Plainburg Castle - the family seat of the Counts of Plain and a symbol of Großgmain - is one of Austria's oldest castle ruins and offers a magnificent view over Großgmain and the surrounding mountains. All that remains of the original structure are the outside walls, with a thickness of 1.4m and standing to a height of over 5m. A short climb rewards the visitor with the opportunity to stop and rest awhile at the viewing platform overlooking Großgmain. Before it became the seat of the Counts of Plain, the mountain was a Celtic burial ground during the late Bronze Age around 1200 BC. Some time later, in about 1100 AD, Count Werigand of Plain built Plainburg Castle.
References:The Villa d'Este is a 16th-century villa in Tivoli, near Rome, famous for its terraced hillside Italian Renaissance garden and especially for its profusion of fountains: the extraordinary system contains fifty-one fountains and nymphaeums, 398 spouts, 364 water jets, 64 waterfalls, and 220 basins, fed by 875 meters of canals, channels and cascades, and all working entirely by the force of gravity, without pumps. It is now an Italian state museum, and is listed as a UNESCO world heritage site.
Tivoli had been a popular summer residence since ancient Roman times due to its altitude, cooler temperatures and its proximity to the Villa Hadriana, the summer residence of the Emperor Hadrian I.
The Villa was commissioned by Cardinal Ippolito II d'Este (1509-1572), second son of Alfonso I d'Este, the Duke of Ferrara and grandson of Pope Alexander VI, along with Lucrezia Borgia.