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The visit starts from the building
on the left, the Tower of Ezzelino
da Romano III, a famous tyrant
and vicar of the Emperor Frederick II
of Swabia. This medieval building
was used for defense purposes
dating back to the 13th century,
and is made from trachite, the
local stone extracted from
Rocca cave.
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Panelled ceiling
The 17th century panelled ceiling, coming from Cento's Pepoli Palace, represents a sort of encyclopaedia of animals (it was originally painted with 289 species of animals).
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The adjacent building is Ca' Marcello, added in the 15th century by the Marcellos', a noble venetian family that arrived in Monselice in 1405, the year in which the Most Serene Republic of Venice conquered these lands, and stayed there until 1840. This venetian palace connected the tower with the house in order to create a whole unit , using a roman style on the right which dates back to the 11th century.
On the first floor there is the entrance, furnished in Renaissance style, for the most part from Tuscany, characterized by a typical Venetian flooring, elastic and light, resistant to moisture and shear.
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After leaving this room you enter Marcello's apartment, placed right over the Armoury.
On the second floor there is a gambrel-roof room, where the guests used to wait until the doors of the reception hall opened, letting them enjoy this place of parties, banquets and dances. A collection of Flemish tapestry wall hangings describes the main phases of a battle. The 16th century fireplace is made from Verona red marble.
Game room: marvellous Carraresi fireplace with Venetian frescoes.
Music room: a 13th century fireplace; an ivory spinet on the table.
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The medieval kitchen
Before concluding the visit, the medieval kitchen inside the 11th century roman house is worth a look. The furniture we can see here today dates back to the 13th century, but in the Middle Ages the kitchens were arranged with wood axes on trestles and benches only when people needed to dine, and dismantled right after in order to avoid fires due to the huge fireplace, and to leave servants and animals a place to sleep.
The spit inside the fireplace could be used to broil an animal whole. It was given a chain and a counter weight to facilitate its movement.
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The Armour Room
The large Armour Room on the
ground floor is today subdivided
into three smaller rooms, a work
of the Carraresi family that
began living there in 1318 and
started converting the castle
into a house. The red and white
chequered walls show the colours
of Padua and are a sign of the
lordship. The other rooms house
an armoury set up by Earl Cini
with a collection of crossbows,
polearms and firearms, and full
body armours.
Particularly interesting is the original Carraresi tower-shaped fireplace that introduces the use of fireplaces inside the houses. It is made up of two hoods, an external one, decorated, and an internal one, used to allow the smoke out. Between them there is a refractory sand pocket used to release heat even after the fire is extinguished.
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The Campiello
Going out we find the campiello, a typical venetian yard with a well in the middle. The tank underneath would gather the water coming from holes in the yard, filtered by the sand and going up again to the well according to the principle of communicating vessels.
The yard is surrounded by gardens on seven levels of terraces going up the Rocca hill side.
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