Montesegale Castle, Montesegale, Italy

The Castello di Montesegaleis a rural hilltop medieval fortress. It was originally built in the 14th century but over the next centuries was destroyed and rebuilt. An earlier 11th-century tower may have existed at the site.

Documents from 1164 indicate that Emperor Federico Barbarossa conceded a castle or fortress at Montesegale to Pavia. The property was owned by the Count Gambarana by 1311, who became the lord of Montesegale. In 1415, in retribution for a rebellion against Filippo Maria Visconti, his general Carmagnola captured and destroyed the castle. Count Guido Gambarana was captured, tortured, and executed. In 1451, Palatine Count Ottino Gambarana, the son of Guido, obtained from Duke Francesco Sforza restoration of his feudal inheritance. The position of the counts of Montesegale was confirmed by Emperor Charles V in 1525. The property passed on the Giussani family in 19th century, and then to the Jannuzzelli family.

The castle has outer walls and an inner walled keep. The interior walls were restored in 1900 by Agostino Gambarotta. The portal to the inner courtyard has a Latin epigraph that reads Fiat pax in virtute tua et habondantia in turribus tuis ('May there be peace in your strength and prosperity within your towers'). The castle portico has heraldic shields of the Gambarana family.

In 1975, the castle became the site of the local museum of contemporary art.

References:

Wikipedia

User Reviews

Elisabetta Balduzzi (2 years ago)
Un'eccellenza dell'Oltrepò Pavese. Da vedere!

channel max (2 years ago)
Grande castello, scenografico con lo sfondo delle colline dell'oltrepo' pavese. Le sue origini risalgono probabilmente al Milleduecento. Divenne proprietà dei conti Palatini di Lomello, i nobili Gambarana, che lo hanno posseduto dal 1300. Ospita in tre delle sue sale un museo di arte contemporanea, mentre il resto non si può visitare poiché è abitato dai proprietari.

Domenico Cottone (2 years ago)
Il castello è vellissimo, peccato che non si possa visitare l"interno

Jacopo Bellarosa (2 years ago)
Spettacolare scenario. Castello incastonato in un panorama mozzafiato sulle colline dell'Oltrepo. Il castello non è visitabile se non in occasione di eventi in quanto è un'abitazione privata.

grazia luigina morea (2 years ago)
Piccolo borgo con castello che incornicia una festa incantevole

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Les Invalides is a complex of buildings containing museums and monuments, all relating to the military history of France, as well as a hospital and a retirement home for war veterans, the building"s original purpose. The buildings house the Musée de l"Armée, the military museum of the Army of France, the Musée des Plans-Reliefs, and the Musée d"Histoire Contemporaine, as well as the burial site for some of France"s war heroes, notably Napoleon Bonaparte.

Louis XIV initiated the project in 1670, as a home and hospital for aged and unwell soldiers: the name is a shortened form of hôpital des invalides. The architect of Les Invalides was Libéral Bruant. The enlarged project was completed in 1676, the river front measured 196 metres and the complex had fifteen courtyards. Jules Hardouin Mansart assisted the aged Bruant, and the chapel was finished in 1679 to Bruant"s designs after the elder architect"s death.

Shortly after the veterans" chapel was completed, Louis XIV commissioned Mansart to construct a separate private royal chapel referred to as the Église du Dôme from its most striking feature. Inspired by St. Peter"s Basilica in Rome, the original for all Baroque domes, it is one of the triumphs of French Baroque architecture. The domed chapel is centrally placed to dominate the court of honour. It was finished in 1708.

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