Visit the Castle

The Castle was built in only three years from 1570 to 1573 by Pio Enea degli Obizzi, inventor of the howitzer. It celebrated the glory of the Obizzi family, mercenary military captains originally from Burgandy who moved to Italy following the Emperor Arrigo II. The Castle, of overshadowing size, was dug in the rock of a hill, as you can see from the stairs which lead to the Piano Nobile. Inside it contains an important fresco cycle painted by G.B. Zelotti, a pupil of Veronese. The Castle is surrounded by a number of parks, notably the “Parco delle Delizie” (Park of Delicacies or main park) rich in botanical species, among which are the first specimens of magnolia and sequoia imported from America.

The Castle was enlarged by Pio Enea II during the XVIIth Century and enriched with numerous important collections, as the well supplied armory. The last representative of the Obizzi family, Tommaso, worked to enrich the collections in the Castle and organized them in a gallery created specifically for this purpose, where the archaeological finds were gathered. Tommaso died in 1805 leaving the Estensi family an inheritance of a dwelling containing a museum so rich it is considered one of the wonders of the Veneto State; it even held friezes from the Parthenon. The Castle later became a property of the Habsburg family which cleared it of almost everything, moving its collections to Vienna and to the castle of Konopischt in Prague. After WWI, the building was surrendered to the Italian Government which sold it in 1929 to the Dalla Francesca family, owners until end of 2015. The castle is still private property.